The Blackthorn Prodigy
by Carson Delmaje
Summary: Follows the story of Jacob, an incredibly skilled trainer from Blackthorn as he returns home after a year away, and embarks on another journey soon after. OC's needed, read the first Chapter for more information. Rated T for slightly questionable language
1. OC form

OC form

For those of you who already responded, Here's the story you all set your alerts to! If you're new, you might want to go to my profile and read the story "The Championship Match," to understand what I'm talking about right now. This fic, "The Blackthorn Prodigy" follows the story of Dragon Tamer Jacob as he returns to Blackthorn City from the events of "The Championship Match." After Jacob leaves Blackthorn, he is traveling to a region I created, which is where you come in. I need your OCs for trainers; friends, rivals, companions, and even Gym Leaders and Elites. I would like as many OCs as possible, so be sure to PM me with them.

OC Form

Name: As well as a possible nickname.

Age: I'd like to see a lot of Teens, since Jacob is around 18 and I'm setting Clair around the same age (just so things work out). But for Gym Leaders, E4, and maybe some others I could use adults.

Gender: Male or Female

Physical Appearance: So, If/when I use your character, I may just copy/paste this description into the story, so be sure to write this part the way you'd like to see it.

Personality Profile: If you can, give me examples (as well as the personality profile) of what she/he would do in specific situations, such as losing, winning, or facing a crisis. This gives me a better view of how your OC would act.

Who: Who you would like to see this character to be to Jacob (friend, rival, gym leader, etc.).

Background: Give a short back story as to why the person is there, their opinions on Pokemon, and whatever else you feel is necessary for me and readers to better understand your OC.

Pokemon: Please make a list of up to six preferred Pokemon, with the first one being the one you definitely want your character to have. I will use this list and give the OC the Pokemon you want (within reason) depending on where Jacob is in the story. Please, Generations I-IV only. If you have no preference on Pokemon, give a preferred type in case I want to make your character a Gym Leader.

Other: Anything else you think I should know about your character.

Remember, PM's only for the form. I will only reply to those.


	2. Episode 1: Decision

**AN: Hello, Carson here. All I really wanted to say before this chapter is on the OC form... Enjoy! PS: In case you don't know, I didn't make Pokemon. Nintendo did.  


* * *

**It was dawn in Olivine City, and its inhabitants were already starting on their day. As Amphy's guiding light was replaced by the sun, merchants were opening their shops, waiters and waitresses were preparing for a busy day in the Diner, residents were beginning to exit their houses to run their errands, and sailors were untying their boats to continue their journeys. In the north entrance of the city, however, one young man's journey was nearly over.

He stood alongside a girl, who had a white and blue dress and brown hair, as they were saying their farewells to each other.

"It's hard to believe you spent a year in Hoenn," the girl told him, smiling. "Couldn't you stay longer? We barely got to catch up since you only arrived after sunset to stay the night."

"Sorry, Jasmine," He shrugged, "but I'm a day late already. I had to give the Elder my decision yesterday, but I couldn't make it in time."

Jasmine, the Olivine Gym leader, looked down with a somewhat sad expression on her face, "did you make your decision?"

"I think so," He said, "I guess I will see when I get there."

The gym leader nodded, and looked out to Route 39, "You're flying back?"

He laughed, "Wouldn't be much of a Dragon Tamer if I wasn't. Besides, I don't plan to get stuck in the Ice Path when a horde of Mamoswine come stampeding at me."

Jasmine looked back at him and giggled, "I guess you're right on that one. That's why you need a strong Steel type!" She beamed.

"I doubt Clair would be too fond of me doing that," he laughed while pulling out a pokeball. When he opened it, a red light released from it as a green dragon that was a little taller than the teen, with green and red wings and what looked like red goggles covering its eyes, appeared.

"I'll take that as your cue to leave?" Jasmine asked.

He smiled softly and nodded, before looking around, realizing someone was missing. "It would be if a certain Pokemon weren't missing, again!"

"Which one?" Jasmine questioned while a fearful expression filled her face.

"Don't worry, it's just Weavile," He said as he placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.

"Wasn't he in the gym training with my Skarmory when we left?" Jasmine turned around to face her gym, which was roughly a hundred feet away from the Route 39 entrance. As if timed, the doors opened to the gym as the black, clawed Pokemon emerged, racing back to its trainer and jumping on his back.

"See? No worries." He smiled and looked back at his favorite and most trained Pokemon, "You ready to go home?"

"Wea!" His Pokemon said, giving a single, excited nod.

"Then I guess it's time to go. Thanks for giving me a place to stay the night, Jasmine," he said to the Steel Trainer.

"Anything to help out an old friend. Besides, you're the only person I know who would train his Dragon types against Steel types. I do miss your visits though," She opened her arms and embraced her friend in a tight hug. When they finally separated, the Dragon Tamer climbed onto his Flygon, with Weavile on his back, and the three took off with one more wave to the Olivine Gym leader.

It took roughly an hour to fly from Olivine City, over Ecruteak City, Mahogany Town, and the Ice Path, and finally reach the City of Blackthorn. Hovering above, the three looked down at the small city, while the trainer knew what was to happen the moment he landed. He muttered to himself, "Welcome home, Jacob Drake."

**The Blackthorn Prodigy**

**Episode 1: Decision**

Nobody was outside as Jacob's Flygon landed on the ground in front of the Pokemon Center. Returning his dragon to its pokeball, Jacob and Weavile refamiliarized with the unchanged city.

"Great, Weavile, it's like we never left. Except for the missing people, that is," He said to his Pokemon, who continued to look around. The few structures in the city were all on different elevations from the contour of the land, all ascending to a small lake that surrounded the entrance to a mountain, known to everyone as the Dragon's Den. "Come on," Jacob motioned to the Pokemon Center in front of them, "let's see if anyone knows what is going on."

As they stepped toward the Center, the doors automatically opened for them, and they entered to see a mostly empty building. "That's weird, usually there are one or two Tamers around who have gotten their Pokemon hurt from training too hard with Clair," Jacob chuckled to himself, remembering what life was like when he lived there over a year prior.

The only occupants of the Pokemon Center were the local Nurse Joy and her Chansey, always willing to help out. She started, "Hello, and welcome to the Pokemo- Wait," She squinted as if to get a better look at the familiar face, "Jacob? Is that really you?" She said slowly, as if she didn't want to be wrong.

"Hello, Nurse Joy, it's been a while," Jacob smiled. She returned his smile as she learned she was right.

"Too long, Jacob. Is there anything I can do for you?"

He looked around at the empty Center and back at the nurse, "Where is everyone?"

"You don't know?" She asked, as if he hadn't been gone for a year without any contact with Blackthorn. He shook his head, indicating her to respond, "They're all at the gym. Willis challenged Clair for leadership of the Gym this morning."

Jacob's eyes widened, "What!"

"Apparently, the elders were waiting until yesterday for something to happen. You know Clair is leaving the gym, right?"

Nodding, Jacob responded, "yeah, she requested to leave almost two years ago, as the Blackthorn Law states."

"Exactly. It seems tomorrow is the day she leaves the gym, and everyone has been wondering when the elders would allow for a challenge. They did so this morning, but nobody wanted to step up to face her, until Willis challenged her."

"That's not right!" Jacob started, but stopped himself before revealing too much information.

"Why not? I think they should have allowed challenges a year ago like they usually do, but this time they only allowed it on her last day as gym leader! It's not fair to the trainers who want a shot but can't get here in less than a day."

Quickly thinking, Jacob improvised a response, "It's not right because... um... Exactly! It's not right that trainers didn't have the chance to face her!"

Joy gave Jacob an odd look before believing his answer, "Yeah. In my opinion, you shouldn't have left. I think you would have had a great shot at Gym Leader. But everybody knows Willis is going to beat Clair and get the gym."

"Two questions," Jacob started, "First, Who is Willis?"

"Oh, he must have-" Joy started, but was cut off when an enormous amount of cheering erupted from outside. The nurse looked to her right, the direction of the sound, and sighed, "The battle must have ended. I wish I could go see who won but I'm stuck here."

Jacob turned to the door, while Weavile hopped on his back. "I'll go see, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. Thanks for the info!" He gave a thumbs up before the door opened for him again.

"It's nice to have you back!" She called before the door closed again.

Stepping outside, Jacob noticed the sound was definitely coming from the gym, but there was nobody outside. _That means they're still inside, celebrating probably._ He looked around the city again until his eyes rested to the north, where he saw a person enter the Ice Path and disappear into the darkness. She had blue hair. _Clair_, he thought, _I know where you're going_. He pulled out a pokeball and called his Flygon once more.

* * *

It didn't take long for Clair to find what she was looking for in the Ice Path; a crack in the wall that was barely wide enough for her to squeeze through. If a person wasn't looking for it, they wouldn't have seen it in the dim light, but Clair had been to it many times. She sidestepped tightly through the space in the wall of the cave, to be released into a small, circular chamber with a ladder in the center. She looked up and saw light flooding the chamber from where the ladder led to. She began to climb.

When she reached the top of the ladder, she climbed through the hole at the roof of the chamber to reach a plateau surrounded by the mountain chain that consisted of the Dragon's Den, the Ice Path, Victory Road and the enormous Mount Silver that overlooked it all. She turned around and was surprised to find someone already there. He was standing at the edge of the plateau looking to Mount Silver. He had black hair covered by a black baseball cap, also sporting a black jacket, jeans and boots. Beside him stood a Weavile, staring in the same direction.

"Jacob?" Clair asked, knowing the answer.

He turned around and smiled at the person in front of him before speaking calmly, "Hey, Clair."

It took what felt like a minute for her mind to register who was in front of her, and she almost broke down and hugged him on the spot. She held her composure, though, and simply stated, "you're late."

Jacob knew her well enough that this was the best reaction he would get from her, "I didn't get to Johto before sunset, and I had to stay in Olivine for the night. I didn't know the Elders would allow challenges." He paused as Clair looked at the ground, "You didn't beat this Willis kid, did you?"

Struggling to hold back tears, Clair shook her head, "Starting tomorrow, he's the new Gym Leader."

"Who is he? He's obviously not from Blackthorn if I've never met him."

Refusing to look up, Clair spoke, "He came from Celadon City two months after you left, claiming he wanted to raise his Dratini. I trained him at the gym, and only a month later his Dratini evolved. He beat everyone in the gym except for me, and he kept getting better. He left for a few weeks to try and catch more Dragon Pokemon, and when he returned he had a Dragonite."

Jacob was interested, now, "He had fully evolved a Dratini within two months? Impressive."

"That's what we all said. He trained at the gym to raise the Dragons he had caught, and a few weeks ago he started inquiring the Elders as to why they weren't allowing trainers to challenge me for my position."

"What did they say?" Jacob's heart skipped a beat.

"They said they weren't allowing challenges because they didn't want unworthy trainers to try to become the leader. I guess they were waiting for something that didn't come until today, when the Elders allowed him to challenge me, and he won."

"How?" Jacob nearly raised his voice, "You've trained Dragons for your entire life, while he only trained for a few months. Your Dragonair evolved barely a month after I left as well! You flew on your Dragonite to visit me because you were so excited."

"I don't know... His Dragonite was so much stronger than mine, and his other Dragons were powerful too. He must have trained under someone incredibly skilled while he was away. It's the only way I can think of."

"I see," Jacob thought about it all, "But it's good that he is powerful. It means he will make a difficult Gym Leader for trainers."

"It's not that," Clair spoke immediately after Jacob's sentence, "He is too cocky. He doesn't know how to lose. He has the idea that a gym leader must be impossible to defeat. He has never lost while he was in Blackthorn, and I don't think he lost when he was away either." She sounded like she was getting angry, "He isn't ready to be a gym leader, but I can't do anything about it. My status as leader ends tomorrow and I'm not going back because that means I'll be stuck there for two more years."

"I understand," Jacob calmly said, "I know you want to explore the world, and I get that. I almost didn't come back from Hoenn if it weren't for the fact that I needed to." He stepped over to where Clair, who was still staring at the ground, stood. He placed his hand on her shoulder while she used the last of her energy to hold back from losing her composure.

"I don't know what to do, Jacob. He doesn't know how to lose, and that's the one thing a Gym Leader needs; Humility."

Jacob smiled and looked out to the mountains around, "Remember, ten years ago, when we were kids and we found this place. We promised to keep it our secret?"

Without looking around, Clair nodded, "Yes, so?"

"We agreed that we would come up here once a week to watch the sun rise. After we got our Pokemon, we trained here so much."

"I remember," She said, a slight smile forming on her face.

"And you always got upset whenever my Sneasel would beat your Dratini, before they evolved. Do you remember that?"

She chuckled at their childhood memories, "I still don't know what you're getting at."

"Do you remember how I would cheer you up?"

Clair pondered the question for a second, "You would challenge Lance, before he left Blackthorn, so you could lose to him"

Smirking, Jacob nodded, "Exactly. I would battle the strongest trainer in Blackthorn to show you that even someone who beat you could still lose against someone better."

It took a minute for Clair to figure out what Jacob was implying, but when she did, she finally looked up. "You're going to challenge Willis? Why? You have nothing to gain from it. You can't get the gym."

His smirk changed to a smile as he answered, "'Why?' To show you that the person who beat you could still lose. Plus, I'm sure I can convince the Elders to allow this to be a challenge for the gym."

"How?"

Jacob looked at his Weavile, who had been staring out at Mount Silver the entire time, and called for him. His Pokemon turned around and jumped on his back as its trainer turned to the former Gym Leader, "I was the one the elders were waiting for during the year I was gone." At that, Jacob descended the ladder, leaving a dumbfounded Clair on the plateau.

* * *

Jacob and Weavile stood at the entrance to the Dragon's Den, having left the Ice Path, avoided every passerby, and used Dewgong to surf across the small lake guarding the Den's entrance. He looked down to his Pokemon with a sad expression, "You know the rules. Only Dragon Pokemon are allowed to be out of their pokeballs in there."

Weavile sunk a little, but nodded in understanding as Jacob returned the Pokemon and entered the Dragon's den alone. There was a single chamber with a ladder that led down to what Jacob knew was the main chamber of the Den. He descended the ladder, thinking about what was to come in the next hour or so. He knew what he needed to do.

He stepped onto the ground of the main chamber from the ladder and turned around to face the temple in the center. It was the same as when he had left with the exception of a bridge that lead from the rock the ladder was placed on, over the water to the temple. Jacob was used to being forced to use one of his Dragons to cross the water, but the bridge made a nice change.

He crossed the bridge to the temple and stopped at the door. It had been a little over a year since he was inside the temple, and he was supposed to show up yesterday. _Joy..._ Jacob thought before pushing the old-fashioned doors.

The interior of the temple consisted of statues of Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite along the red and black wooden walls. There were three elders on each side of the rectangular room, while the seventh elder stood at the end of the temple. It was this elder that stood upon seeing who had entered.

"Jacob Drake, you have returned a day late."

Jacob walked down the long hall and knelt in front of the Great Elder, "I know. I tried to be here on time, but I got held up a day."

The Elder didn't change his expression, "We do not take kindly to excuses. You should know this of all of us, Jacob." The Elder's voice had one of soft power, while Jacob continued to kneel.

"I understand, and now I see the consequence of not returning within my deadline," he stared at the floor as he spoke, "I learned you allowed Clair to be challenged today, and she was defeated."

"By Willis, yes," the Elder responded. "We summoned you here a year ago to request that you specifically took over as the Blackthorn Gym leader upon Clair's departure. You responded with your own request to leave the city for that year to make your decision. We warned you of the necessity to return on time, and yet," the Elder paused, "here we are."

Jacob sighed, "I know I made a mistake in trying to come back so late. I should have returned with enough time to spare, but there was something I had to do before coming back."

The Elder stared down at Jacob, "What could have been more important?"

"In my year, I traveled to Hoenn. I spent weeks in a desert but I finally caught a Trapinch. I trained it while catching other Pokemon in the process, and we all became stronger in the process. A month later it evolved into a Vibrava, and finally, a few weeks ago, a Flygon."

The other six elders whispered amongst themselves as Jacob mentioned the name of his Dragon Pokemon. The seventh seemed to have no change in his condescending attitude, "You left for a year to catch another Dragon?"

"No," Jacob started, "I left for a year to go on an adventure that would help me make the decision to either stay here as Blackthorn Gym leader, or not. I chose Hoenn because when I was there last I failed to find a Trapinch, so I wanted a second shot."

The elder changed his voice for the first time, from stern to understanding, "I see. Do you have this Flygon with you?"

Jacob smirked as he knew things were starting to go his way, and he stood and pulled out his Flygon's pokeball once more. "Of course. Flygon, come on out!"

For the third time, Jacob's Dragon emerged from its pokeball, stretched its wings and looked around curiously at the new room.

The elders' murmuring got louder as they all stared at the Dragon Pokemon in amazement. Even the seventh Elder's gaze widened at the Ground/Dragon type. "I see, it is a fine creature. How well have you trained it?"

"That's why I took so long to return. I entered a tournament that ended yesterday. I lost in the final round, though." Jacob looked down and thought about the events of the day before.

"I see." The Elder said, "and your Dragon? How did it perform at said tournament?"

Jacob smiled again and looked at his Flygon, "Better than I could have asked. Took down a Snorlax and a Charizard before going down himself."

The seven Elders were impressed, as the seventh spoke again, "You have raised it well, then."

"Thank you," Jacob said while returning his Flygon and kneeling again.

"And what of your decision?"

Jacob looked up, "What do you mean? You told me it was too late."

A smile flickered for a brief moment on the Elder's face, "I said you returned late. We have decided you can still claim the gym before Clair's leadership ends tomorrow."

Jacob thought hard, looking at the ground, "What about this Willis kid? Will he just be kicked out of the gym?"

"If you accept."

"That's not fair," Jacob stood, "even though nobody knows the way he became a strong Dragon Tamer, that doesn't change the fact that he beat Clair fairly."

"So you refuse?" the Elder was bewildered.

"No," Jacob was the one to pause this time, "I want to challenge him for the gym."

The seventh Elder smiled as he nodded to the other six. Slowly, the seven stood while the one in front of Jacob spoke, "Then, with the Elders of the Dragon Clan as witnesses, this battle for the gym will commence."

Jacob smirked as the Elder spoke, and finally responded, "In that case, I have one more request." The Elder looked down at Jacob in confusion as he continued, "As per Blackthorn law, a Tamer who leaves the city, but must return at some point, must leave one of his Pokemon behind as a means to ensure their return. I want my Pokemon back."

"When you departed a year ago, you left more than one," the Elder started while turning to a stone chest. He opened and lifted out of the chest a bag that seemed to hold several round objects, "Which one would you like returned?"

Jacob continued to smirk as he looked at the bag, "All three of them."

* * *

After the last of the crowd had left, the gym was surprisingly quiet. The only person present was the soon-to-be Gym Leader, Willis. He wore a green jacket with a dark yellow shirt underneath, the same color as his short, curly blond hair. He wore green sneakers and blue jeans, with a chain coming from his left pocket.

He stood alone in the center of the arena and smiled, "Come tomorrow, this place is mine!" He excitedly cheered to himself for defeating the previous leader and finally attaining his dream of becoming the most powerful Dragon Tamer in Blackthorn, apart from Champion Lance.

His celebrations were cut short as the doors to the gym slammed open and Clair stormed in, with a determined look on her face.

"Back for a rematch already, Clair? We don't want to see my Dragonite crush yours again, do we?" Willis teased, with a giant smile that made Clair want to shove her fist into it. Instead, she got close and gave an evil grin.

"No, I'm only here to tell you the Elders are on there way back."

Willis' smile dropped faster than an Extremespeed attack as he suddenly began to panic. "What? Why? What did I do? They were just here to watch me beat you, what could they want?"

Clair laughed loudly, "They're coming with another Dragon Tamer. It seems the Elders have allowed him to challenge you for the gym."

"They can't do that!" Willis exclaimed.

"They're the Elders of the Dragon Clan, they have the power to overlook any of the gym's rules."

Willis stared at the ground for a second, but then his worried look disappeared. "Wait, I've beaten every tamer in this town. Who would be stupid enough to challenge me after just seeing my victory over you?"

Clair smiled again, and walked back toward the door to wait. "You may have beaten every trainer _in_ this town, but not _from_ this town. The person who's coming has been gone for a year, but now he's back to beat you and take the gym, as the Elders originally wanted."

Something clicked in Willis' mind, "He's been gone for a year? You don't mean-"

He was interrupted by the doors of the gym opening. The seven Elders stepped into the gym, followed by a person who looked to be in his late teens, with a Weavile behind him.

Jacob knelt down to his most trusted Pokemon, "Hey, this battle has to be Dragons only, it's the only way I will be allowed to do this challenge. Do you mind sitting this one out with Clair?"

Weavile looked back at Clair, then to his trainer again and shot him a look that said one thing; "Kick his ass."

"What is this all about?" Willis asked as the seven elders took seats beside the battlefield.

Jacob stood up as his Weavile followed Clair, and looked at his opponent, "I take it you're Willis. You've come a long way from winning a Dratini in the Game Corner."

"How did you know that!" Willis shouted.

Jacob chuckled, "You're from Celadon City. You came here roughly ten months ago with a Dratini, which are definitely _not_ found in Celadon."

"Well, you're right. It doesn't mean I don't care about my Pokemon any less!" Willis shouted.

"It only means you never truly caught what became to be your strongest Pokemon. It was given to you."

"So? Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm sure you've heard of me. My name is Jacob Drake." He smiled as Willis' eyes grew nearly twice their size.

"You're the one they call the Blackthorn Prodigy?"

Looking at Clair, the elders and back, Jacob shrugged, "I guess it's a nickname."

"I heard the other Tamers talk about you. They said you're such a strong Dragon Trainer that you nearly beat Champion Lance, and that's why they call you that."

Jacob laughed, "Is that what you think? That I'm the so-called 'Blackthorn Prodigy' because of a battle I almost won?"

"Why else?" Willis asked.

"How about this," Jacob answered, "we both know I'm here to battle you for leadership of this gym, so we will skip the chit-chat and make this interesting. If you can beat me in any of three one-on-one Pokemon battles, I will admit defeat."

Willis was confused. "So I only have to beat you once?" Jacob nodded. Willis grinned and pulled out a pokeball, "Piece of cake! Let's finish this early, Altaria!"

When his pokeball opened, what looked like a white cloud appeared. From the cloud emerged a blue head with white beak and cheeks and a long blue neck. On top of its head were two, long blue feathers. Also from the cloud protruded two feet, and five tail feathers. It expanded cloud-like wings from the base of its body and hovered in mid-air.

"An Altaria? I haven't seen one since I battled Winona in Fortree City a few months ago. Let's see how you've trained yours," Jacob said while reaching into the bag the Elder had given him. He pulled out a belt with three pokeballs on it, and buckled the belt at his waist. He pulled one of the pokeballs and looked at it, "You're up first, Dragonite!"

Clair smiled as the orange, pseudo-legendary dragon roared upon its release. Willis wan't surprised, "Are you that afraid to lose, Jacob, that you sent out your Dragonite first so you could win at least one round?"

Jacob shrugged, "I guess I am. Dragonite, use Dragon Rush!"

Dragonite glowed light blue as it flew at an incredible speed toward the cloud dragon and aimed for a full power tackle.

"Altaria, Dragon Rage!" Willis shouted, as his Pokemon fired a blue flame at the speeding Dragon.

"Avoid it, and continue the attack!" Dragonite dodged the flame at high speed and rammed Altaria full force. The blue cloud pokemon began to fall from the hit. "Now, Dragonite, Dragon Claw!" Jacob shouted, and his Pokemon dropped down on top of Altaria and drove shining claws into its back. Altaria hit the ground hard and was out for the count without even landing an attack.

Clair, noticing there was no referee in the gym, ran to the center line of the battlefield with Weavile and raised a hand to Jacob's side, "Altaria is unable to battle, Dragonite is the winner!"

"Wha-... but..." Willis stammered. He quickly held out his pokeball and returned his Pokemon and Jacob did the same.

"Two more chances to win, Willis," Jacob smiled, "You're sure you can still do it, right?"

"I know I can," he angrily replied, "Charizard! Go!"

Jacob smiled again, "I battled a Charizard yesterday! Don't you have any Pokemon I haven't fought?" He raised his second Pokeball and called out, "You're turn, Salamence!"

Awestruck, Willis could only stare as the blue and red dragon roared menacingly at Willis' starter Pokemon. "Char- Charizard, use flamethrower!" Charizard obeyed his stammering trainer and fired an intense beam of heat at the dragon.

"Salamence, fly up and use Dragon Rage!" Jacob called as his second Pseudo-legendary pumped its wings, avoided the Flamethrower attack and fired its own beam of fire at the Charizard, hitting it square in the chest. "Finish him off with Hyper Beam!"

Jacob's Pokemon raised it's head, charging an orange ball of light in its mouth while flying, as Willis suddenly snapped back into reality, "Don't let that attack hit you Charizard! Use Steel Wing!" His Charizard charged towards the flying Salamence, flapped its wings hard and started flying to the dragon. The Fire type's wings shown white as Charizard tried to get to Salamence before it used the Hyper Beam.

"Fire!" Jacob shouted, as Salamence launched an immense, orange beam of energy that engulfed Charizard completely. Willis' Pokemon crashed into the ground unmoving.

Clair cheered as she raised a hand to Jacob once more, "Charizard is unable to battle, Salamence is the winner!"

Willis stood with his mouth open at the fact that his two Pokemon lost so easily, without even landing a hit on Jacob's.

"One more chance, Willis." Jacob sneered.

Willis angrily looked at Jacob, "I see now why they call you the Blackthorn Prodigy. It's because you own two of the Pseudo-legendary Dragons, which are the most difficult-to-raise Pokemon in the world. You have two while barely any Dragon Tamers are able to train one. Luckily, I'm one of those few. Go, Dragonite!"

Willis' own Dragonite was a little shorter than the one Jacob had used, but it had the same angry look in its eyes as its trainer. "Your move now, Jacob! This is the round that I win and you leave!"

Jacob smiled at the fully evolved Dragon before him. "You're almost right about the reason they call me the Blackthorn Prodigy."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't call me so because I was able to raise two Pseudo-legendary Dragons. Dragonite and Salamence came after the name."

"So, why do they call you that?"

Jacob chuckled as he pulled out his last pokeball, "They call me the Blackthorn Prodigy because the first Dragon Pokemon I ever raised, is the most violent dragon of them all. It makes Salamence seem tame, and I was the second trainer from Blackthorn to succeed, following our Champion, Lance."

Willis knew the answer, but had to ask out of fear, "Which dragon was that?"

Chuckling, Jacob threw his last pokeball, "Time to end this, Garchomp!"

The shark-like dragon roared louder than any of Jacob's dragons had before, and Willis shuddered in terror. That didn't stop him from calling the first attack, "Dragonite, Outrage!"

Willis' Dragonite seemed to get incredibly furious, and angrily charged at Garchomp with a fire of agression in its eyes. Jacob didn't seem phased by the attack choice, "Garchomp, stop that Outrage with Dragon Rush!"

Garchomp, like Jacob's Dragonite before him, glowed blue and charged at the approaching opponent and collided before Willis' Pokemon could even attack.

"Follow up and finish him off with Giga Impact!" Jacob called out, as his Dragon jumped in the air, flew at Dragonite while spinning rapidly, and crashed into Willis' strongest Pokemon, pushing it into the ground. Garchomp then flew back to Jacob's side unscratched.

"Dragonite is unable to battle, Garchomp is the winner, which means Jacob wins the match!" Clair excitedly shouted while holding an arm out to Jacob. The seven elders stood and clapped as the two Tamers returned their Pokemon.

Willis placed his Dragonite's pokeball on his belt and stared at the ground in disbelief. "I can't believe it... I lost. I've never lost. I'm supposed to be the Gym Leader but I didn't even land a single attack. How did this happen?" He looked up to see Jacob, Clair and the Elders standing in front of him.

Clair spoke first, "It happened because you weren't supposed to get the Gym. Jacob was!"

Willis sulked as the Elder spoke to Jacob, "Since you have officially won the challenge, your duty as Blackthorn Gym leader will begin tomorrow. Congratulations!" The elders smiled as Jacob he looked from them, to Clair, then to Willis.

He smiled back at the Elders and said, "Willis can stay as the leader."

"WHAT?" Clair shouted as she grabbed Jacob by the shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. "You went through all this! You beat him! You deserve to be the leader here!"

Willis and the Elders were silent as Jacob answered, "He obviously wants to be the leader here, and I think being a gym leader takes work. Nobody is ever ready to be leader when they are first assigned." He looked at Clair, "Were you?"

She looked at the ground and back at Jacob, "I guess not... But then why would you go through all this, knowing you would win, just to give him the title anyway?"

Jacob smiled and looked at Willis, "As you said, Clair, he needed to learn how to lose, so I taught him. Besides," He added, looking back at Clair, "I just did this to cheer up my best friend."

Before she could respond, the Elder cut in, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

The victor nodded, "At the tournament, I met a kid named Ash. He has been traveling for quite a long time and he was a very skilled trainer. He was the trainer I lost against. Even though I have been a trainer for longer than he has, I still lost. I realized then that one year in Hoenn had made me stronger than all of my time training here, and that if I want to become a better trainer, I need to go on my own adventures."

"I see," the Elder calmly stated. "Very well. Willis will take the position of Blackthorn Gym Leader starting tomorrow." At that statement, he walked out of the gym, followed by the other six elders, to return to the temple in the Dragon's Den. Jacob, Clair and Willis were left alone in the gym.

After a minute of silence, without anything to say to each other, Jacob nodded to Willis and started to leave, with Clair at his side. Jacob whistled and Weavile got up from his lounge in the stadium seats and ran to the two, walking alongside its trainer.

"Wait!" Willis called out. Jacob turned his head to show he was listening. "Why did you let me stay? Even though you don't want to be leader, there's bound to be a stronger trainer than me. I lost."

Jacob shook his head, "The goal of a leader isn't to always win, Willis."

"What is it then?"

Instead, Clair answered the question, "The goal is to give trainers the motivation to train harder so they can be the ones who win." The two walked out to allow the new advice time to settle on the new gym leader's mind.

When they were outside, they looked up at the sky, with the sun shining high in the mountains. "Did you really beat him for me?" Clair asked Jacob.

"Of course. It's what best friends do; they look out for each other."

For the first time in a while, Clair beamed at Jacob. "Still best friends, then? Even after a year?"

Jacob nodded and would have responded if he wasn't pulled into a tight hug by the former gym leader. After a moment's shock he hugged her back.

"Welcome home, Jacob." She said, still hugging him tightly.

_Welcome home, _he thought, _for now.

* * *

_

**AN: I hope you liked episode 1. I have two hints for Episode Two: the title will be "Gym Leader for a Day," and that Jacob will recieve an interesting visit from an OC that has been submitted. Please review, i do enjoy constructive critism, it helps my writing! Until next time then! **_  
_


	3. Episode 2: Gym Leader for a Day

**A/N: Thanks for all who have sent in OC's so far, but I need a lot more! I'll accept OC's from people who have already submitted, but I will try to use one of everybody's first. Two more things about OC's. First: I've recieved questions about whether or not I will use your characters. I do intend to use all of the characters I recieve, some more than others, as well as some sooner than later. It all depends on where Jacob is in the story and what I decided to do with your character. Second: When I use your OC, those of you who followed the directions under the "Appearance" section of the OC form will have their descriptions edited, copied and pasted onto the story, surrounded by asteriks (*) to show it is not my description, but the author's. There are two OC's in this episode, and their credits are on the Note on the bottom of this page. I apologise for the long note, but I also want to respond to the reviews I've recieved.  
**

**PhantoMNiGHT321: Thanks! I was a little worried people might think Jacob was too godly in that battle, but I'm glad at least someone liked it! Congrats on being the first review!  
**

**Frozen Seagull: HEY! It's nice to hear from ya again! I hope this episode doesn't disappoint either! As for your OC, all I can say is that she'll show up... soon.**

**Percyfan97: Here's an update! **

**TeamRocketDiva: Yes, you did submit that OC. I'm glad you could join in! **

**Again, sorry for the long note...Now for Episode 2! OH.,.. I don't own Pokemon. I'm sure you knew that.  


* * *

**"Dragonite, use Dragon Claw!"  
"Flygon, counter with the same move!"

The two dragons flew at each other with glowing claws and slashed, knocking each other back into the ground. "Dragonite," Clair shouted, "Draco Meteor!"

Jacob watched as Clair's Dragonite charged a large orange orb in its mouth, and fired it into the air. "Alright, Flygon, let's work on your agility. Get ready to dodge those meteors!"

It had been several weeks since Jacob turned down the offer to become the Blackthorn Gym leader, and he always stuck around the gym to make sure it's new leader, Willis, wasn't doing everything wrong. When he wasn't at the gym, he was training with Clair or on his own on the plateau. Today, though, there was a herd of Mamoswine blocking their entrance, so they decided to train in Route 45, just south of Blackthorn City. Weavile was watching the training session perched on a nearby rock.

The orange orb exploded in the sky into dozens of smaller energy meteors that plummeted down. Flygon took flight, low to the ground, with his eyes up, swerving left, right and around to dodge every one. Jacob's Pokemon placed its feet on the ground and looked back at his trainer.

"Great job, Flygon!" Jacob cheered, "Your speed has gotten so much better in the past few weeks!" He looked at Clair, who was also smiling at the work they put into training Flygon. "Want to finish this battle, Clair?"

She looked from Flygon to Dragonite, and nodded. "Dragonite, You ready?" Her Pokemon roared in agreement.

"Flygon, ready to take on one of the strongest dragon Pokemon in this town?" Jacob asked, to which Flygon crouched into a ready position and nodded. "Right! Clair, let's do this! Flygon, start with-"

_BZZZZ... BZZZZ... BZZZZ. _

Jacob paused for a moment, then quickly started shuffling through his pockets. Finally, he pulled out the source of the sound; his cell phone. Clair gave a look that asked, "Who could that be?" as he answered the call.

"What is it, Willis?" Jacob said.

"Jacob, I need a huge favor!" Willis said, sounding rushed. There seemed to be static on the other line.

"What do you want? You know I train at this time." Jacob was beginning to get a little irritated at Willis' calls about random problems he has as a gym leader. These calls had increased since Clair smashed her own phone in front of the two as a message for Willis to stop calling her. Jacob was close to doing the same.

"My brother's birthday is today, and I told him I would visit him in Celadon. I need you to look after the gym while I'm gone."

Jacob smacked his forehead as Clair began to approach him to try and listen in. "Gym leaders are only supposed to leave for emergencies, Willis. I don't think this qualifies."

"I know, I know," the Blackthorn Gym leader responded, "But I haven't seen him in over a year, and we never even celebrated my becoming a leader in the first place!"

"That still doesn't change anything. I'm not going to watch the gym, and you know Clair won't, so you're not leaving." Jacob rolled his eyes as Clair finally reached him.

There was silence on the other line as Clair mouthed, "What is it?"

Shaking his head, Jacob spoke to the phone, "Willis, you already left didn't you?"

After a pause, Willis responded, "I just landed in Pallet Town. I will be back in the morning." Jacob heard the clicking sound that only meant he had been hung up on.

"What happened?" Clair asked.

Jacob put his phone back in his pocket, "Willis is gone for the day, and wants me to look after the gym because he knows you won't."

Clair chuckled, "He's right. Looks like you're the gym leader today."

Sighing, Jacob lowered his head and stared at the ground. "Ahhh... Crap."

**The Blackthorn Prodigy**

**Episode 2: Gym Leader for a Day**

"How is it that I turned down the offer to be gym leader, but got stuck here anyway?" Jacob asked Clair as they entered the empty gym, with Weavile following close behind.

"It happens. You've covered for me before, I'm sure you're used to it."

Jacob sat in one of the seats to the side of the battlefield, the same seats the Elders had sat in during his battle with Willis a few weeks prior. "That is true," he said, "But the Tamers don't train here on weekends. The only thing that would happen today is a gym battle, two if I'm lucky."

Clair sat down beside him and nodded, "The life of a gym leader with nothing to do." The two shared a laugh for a few seconds before staring into space in silence. After another minute, Clair broke the silence, "We could keep training. We have the gym, until someone comes in to challenge you."

After a pause, Jacob looked at his Weavile, who was leaning against the wall next to the door, sharpening his claws. "Hey, Weavile, feel like training?"

"Wea!" His Pokemon excitedly responded. Jacob and Clair stood from their seats and walked over to their respective sides of the battlefield. Jacob was on the Gym Leader side, facing the door, while Clair was on the challenger side, facing away from it.

"Go ahead," Jacob said to his Pokemon, who had been standing next to him. Weavile ran out to the field and waited for Clair's Pokemon.

She pulled out her pokeball and commented, "Just like old times, only a little more evolved. Let's go, Dragonite!" She threw the ball and released her Dragonite, the second of three that reside in Blackthorn; the first and third being Jacob's and Willis', respectively.

Jacob smirked before looking at his Pokemon, "Weavile, you need to use your speed and agility to counter Dragonite's raw power. Ice Punch!"

"Dragonite, Dragon Claw!" Clair called out in response.

Weavile's claw glowed light blue as he ran at Dragonite at a high speed. Dragonite's claw shone white and the large dragon cocked back its own claw. Weavile jumped to punch at Dragonite's head, but Clair's Pokemon, instead, punched Weavile's own attack. Despite the type advantage, Weavile's attack was overpowered by the Pseudo-legendary Pokemon, and was knocked back to Jacob's side of the field.

"Weavile, use Night Slash to get close!" The clawed Pokemon disappeared into a black blur and, moments later, reappeared in front of Dragonite's head. "Now, Ice Punch!" Without any delay, Weavile spun in mid-air, charging an icy fist, and smashed it into the dragon's head.

"Dragonite!" Clair shouted as her Pokemon recoiled back a few large steps. The dragon shook its head and glared at Weavile, ready to continue.

"Again, Weavile, Night Slash!" Just as last time, Weavile's speed made it fade into the air and reappear in front of Dragonite. This time, though, Clair was ready.

"Dragon Pulse!" She shouted, just as Weavile appeared in front of her Pokemon. Dragonite opened its mouth as a large, turquoise ball of energy quickly grew in front of it. The Dragon launched it at the airborne Weavile.

There was no time to react, and Weavile was struck by the powerful dragon's attack. Jacob's Pokemon flew through the air, but was able to land on the ground on its feet, itching for more.

"One more Dragon Pulse, Dragonite!" Clair shouted, as her Pokemon fired off another orb of energy at Weavile.

"Metal Claw through the attack, then get close again!" Jacob ordered. Weavile's claws shone a metallic white as the Dragon Pulse attack grew closer. Before the two collided, the Dark type lashed out a claw at the ball of energy, and split it in two. The two smaller orbs separated and collided with the walls behind Jacob, while his Weavile jumped from where it was standing, aiming at Dragonite's head.

"Metal Ice Claw!" Jacob yelled, knowing Clair would be too confused to use an attack. While approaching in mid-air, Weavile's already shining claws changed from white to light blue, as the Metal Claw attack became infused with his Ice Punch.

"Dragon Claw, Dragonite! Don't let him hit you!" Clair shouted, and her Pokemon obeyed by cocking its arm back, again, with its own set of glowing claws, and punched as Weavile got close. Weavile punched at the attack and the two attacks collided, each trying to overpower the other.

"Now, Weavile, jump up and use Dragonite's hand as a spring board!" Jacob called out, smirking. Weavile grabbed the dragon's hand, flipped over to stand on it, and jumped off high into the air. "Let's finish this with another Metal Ice Claw!"

"Dragonite, stop him now with Draco Meteor!" Clair yelled, somewhat panicking. Dragonite cocked its head back and charged the massive orb of energy and launched it straight up at Weavile.

"Bad move, Clair," Jacob said, still looking up. Weavile held its claws forward and dove into the giant meteor as it ascended. A second later, the clawed Pokemon emerged from the energy, still falling at Dragonite as the Draco Meteor attack rose higher and exploded. When the Dark type got close enough to its target, it did a front flip, extended its claws out, and smashed them down atop Dragonite's head. The impact was so great it knocked the dragon to the ground.

Weavile made it back to his own side in enough time to watch the energy meteors from Dragonite's attack crash down on the already fallen dragon. They didn't even need to check to know that Clair's Pokemon couldn't fight anymore.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Clair said while returning her Dragonite and commending it on a job well done. "Even after all of that training we had between Flygon and Dragonite, she still wasn't strong enough to take down your Weavile."

Jacob smiled as his Pokemon walked over to him and sat beside its trainer, exhausted. "We trained a lot too in Hoenn, you know. So, what does that make the score between us? Me 37, You 5?"

"No!" Clair shouted in defense, "I've beaten you more than that!"

"I'm pretty sure I have the right score... How long have you been standing there?" Jacob asked as his eyes shifted from Clair to the door.

Clair turned around to see one of the gym's students, Samuel, standing at the door in awe at what he just witnessed. He was wearing the normal red and black Tamer uniform and had on a backpack, which meant he was going to train somewhere that wasn't the gym. "Oh, um," the kid stuttered, trying to remember what he had entered the gym to do.

"Yes?" Jacob asked.

"Where's Willis?" Samuel finally managed, but asking Clair instead of Jacob.

She answered, "He had to run an errand in Celadon City. He should be back in the morning. Until then, Jacob is the gym leader. Talk to him."

"Oh," the young Tamer turned his head to Jacob, "Someone just came into the city from Route 45. I ran into him as I was leaving to train. He was big, and kind of scary looking, but he says he wants to meet the gym leader. Should I tell him to come back?"

Clair looked at Jacob, then back at the kid when Jacob responded, "No, I'll see him. I'm sure Willis wouldn't mind missing a Gym Battle. Tell him I will be there soon."

With a nod, Samuel ran out of the gym, while Clair turned to Jacob again. "Odd," She said.

"What?"

"The fact that he didn't simply walk into the gym. Everyone else does."

Jacob shook his head, "Maybe he wants to make an entrance. The really odd part is that he came from Route 45."

"And?"

"You should know this better than anyone. Nobody walks to Blackthorn from Route 45, it's an exit route. Anyone who tries to climb the mountainside to get here either isn't very smart, or doesn't know about the Ice Path. If he doesn't know about that, it means he's not from the region." Jacob called his Weavile and walked to the door as Clair processed his logic. She ran after him shortly before he left the gym.

When they stepped out into the late morning light, they looked out to Route 45 to find the man Samuel had spoken about. *He was unusually tall, had brown hair with a large impressive looking red trench coat wrapped around his body. His fedora covered the majority of his hair but you could still see a small amount sticking out from under the hat. At his collar he wore an emerald necklace over an oddly shaded red dress shirt. His dress pants were also red and he seemed to be a rather  
disagreeable person.*

When the large man saw them, he took hulking strides to quickly approach. Jacob murmered to Clair, "This should be interesting," before the man was within earshot.

The man towered over Jacob by nearly a foot, and Jacob was almost six feet tall. Clair felt like a Diglett compared to the other two. The man in red had a deep voice as he spoke, "Which one of you is the gym leader?"

Jacob looked up and down the man, "The normal leader is on an errand, he left me in charge of the gym. I guess that makes me the person you want to see."

The man gave a single laugh, "Your gym leader isn't even here? That's sad. "

Clair spoke up to defend Jacob, "Listen, I was the Blackthorn Gym leader before our current one, and I say Jacob is far more capable of being the leader than who we have now."

Raising an eyebrow, the tall man looked again at Jacob, "Fair enough."

Jacob looked up and made eye contact with the man, "I take it you want a Gym Battle?"

Again, the man laughed once, "Like I have a need for a badge."

"So, what are you here for?"

"This is Blackthorn City, right?"

Jacob nodded.

"The hometown of Kanto and Johto Champion Lance, correct?"

Again, Jacob nodded.

"Then, I take it that you're the best trainer in town, since Lance isn't here. Am I right?"

Jacob didn't like where this was going, "Who are you?"

"For now," the man answered, "let's just say I'm a guy who is looking out for the competition."

Clair jumped into the conversation, "What competition?"

The man turned around and walked about thirty feet away from the two, before turning back to face them, pointing at Jacob. "I challenge you, the leader of the gym of dragons, to a one-on-one battle! If I feel you deserve it, I'll tell you who I am."

Jacob and Clair shrugged at each other, before Jacob said, "Fine. As the leader of the Blackthorn City Gym, I accept your challenge!"

"Good. Then, as gym leader, common courtesy is that you choose your Pokemon before I do."

Nodding, Jacob looked down at his Weavile. "Sorry. He challenged me as the gym leader. I have to use a Dragon type." Weavile shrugged.

"If you're a leader, what's taking you so long?" the man asked. Jacob couldn't tell if he was teasing or being serious.

"Flygon, you're up!" Jacob called as he threw the pokeball.

"Jacob," Clair whispered to him, "Are you sure Flygon is ready for this? You told me yesterday he still had a long way to go before he would be near the same level as your other three dragons."

"I know, but I'm sure Flygon is ready to take on this punk," Jacob responded. Clair nodded and stepped back while Weavile remained at Jacob's side.

The man adjusted his fedora and chuckled, "Let's see your Flygon stand up against my Staraptor." He threw the pokeball high in the air and, when it opened, a large dark brown bird emerged. It stood about four feet tall with a tuft of red and brown feathers on top of its head.

"Flygon, let's start this with Dragonbreath!" Jacob called out, as his Flygon launched a beam of blue fire at the large bird.

"Staraptor, use Agility to dodge the attack, then continue with aerial ace." The man in red's Staraptor flew up above the beam at a speed that could rival Weavile's and then dove, flying toward Flygon.

"Quick, Dragon Claw!" Jacob yelled, and Flygon flew at Starapter, claws ready. When they were close, Flygon slashed.

"Agility." The man said, not even seeming worried, and Staraptor transformed into a blur of speed and flew away from the Dragon Claw. "Now, Aerial Ace in the back." The bird Pokemon flew at an incredible speed around the dragon Pokemon, and slammed into its back. Flygon fell to the ground, but quickly ascended again.

"Use Screech, then Dragonbreath!" Jacob commanded. Flygon opened its mouth and gave an earsplitting yell. The three trainers covered their ears and Staraptor struggled to remain in the air. With the distraction, Flygon quickly fired another Dragonbreath at the bird Pokemon, who could do nothing to avoid it. The attack landed a direct hit against Staraptor, who was launched back about twenty feet. After falling for a moment, Staraptor stretched its wings and regained flight.

"Staraptor, you're faster than that dragon. Use your speed with another Aerial Ace," the man said, but seemed to have no cares about the battle at all.

"Flygon, use Dragon Claw! Don't let him dodge it this time!"

The bird Pokemon flew at the dragon, who was readying itself with another Dragon Claw and waiting for the right time. For the second time, when Staraptor was close enough, Flygon slashed at the bird. This time, the man gave no orders, and Staraptor was caught in the attack and landed on the ground hard.

"Dragonbreath to finish it!" Jacob yelled, as Flygon pulled back its head to use the attack.

"Close Combat," the man calmly stated. Staraptor seemed to jump to life and pummeled Flygon at close range with its wings, talons, head, and just about anything else it could use as a means to inflict damage. "End this with Brave Bird," the man added. The bird ferociously slammed its head into Flygon to knock the dragon back. Then, Staraptor flew directly up, backwards, and down. The bird started to glow blue as it picked up speed.

"Flygon! Dodge that attack!" Jacob shouted, but his Pokemon was still attempting to recover from Close Combat. Staraptor dove into the dragon at an intense force, and Flygon fell back to the ground. Even Weavile couldn't believe what had just happened.

"This battle is over," the man said while returning his powerful bird Pokemon.

Jacob returned his Flygon and looked at the pokeball, "You did great. We just need to work a little harder, that's all," he told the Pokemon. Clair rejoined him at his side as he looked up at the man, who had stepped over to him, and said, "Congratulations, you've won the gym battle. As-"

"Well, of course I won your little gym battle," the man rudely interrupted. "No, I do not want a badge. Why would I?" The man then began to walk away.

Clair looked at the man in disgust, "What about your agreement?"

Without looking back, the man in red said, "I said I would tell you if you deserved it. If I haven't told you, it must mean one thing." The man silently walked away until he disappeared behind a boulder, back down Route 45.

Muttering some profanities under her breath, Clair turned to Jacob and tried to comfort him, "That guy was a jerk. Don't listen to him."

Jacob shrugged, "Yeah, Flygon and I just need to train a little more."

"That's the spirit!" Clair said, playfully punching Jacob on the arm.

"I could have beaten him though," Jacob continued. "If I had used a different Pokemon, like Garchomp. If it wasn't a gym battle I definitely would have won with any of the Pokemon I had used in that tournament. Come on." He started to run to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

"Thank you for your time, Your Flygon is all better now, Jacob." Nurse Joy handed him the one pokeball he had given her roughly and hour prior. Clair was sitting in one of the chairs, holding her Dragonite's pokeball, while Weavile was sparring with another Tamer's Charmeleon. "He was just beaten up, and only need nice rest."

"Thanks a lot," Jacob said with a smile as he returned Flygon's pokeball to his belt. As he turned around to leave, Clair stood and Weavile stopped playing around. The three of them left the Pokemon Center into the mid afternoon light.

"What now?" Clair asked.

"Back to the gym, I guess. I still have until sunset. Maybe we could get some more training done," Jacob said, walking around the Pokemon Center and back to the gym. He quickly added, "With my other Pokemon, I mean. Flygon has had enough for the day. Typhlosion and Gardevoir haven't had much training in a few days."

Quietly chuckling, Clair responded, "I still can't believe you actually went to that professor to get a Pokemon when you already had a Garchomp, Dragonair, Bagon and Sneasel when you left for Kanto four years ago."

"Why not? Typhlosion became one of my best Pokemon."

"Any of the other Tamers would have been fine with that team, and just gone straight to Pallet Town. You _had _to make that stop in New Bark Town."

The two laughed as they approached the gym, but quieted down as soon as they saw someone sitting against the wall in front of the doors.

"Hello?" Jacob called out, but the person didn't respond. When they were closer he tried again, but there was still no movement. He ran over to see if the boy was okay.

"What's the problem," Clair asked, slightly concerned.

"Nothing," Jacob said as he stood up again, "He's just asleep."

"Oh," Clair said, pausing. She placed her foot on the sleeping person's leg and shook it. Slowly, the boy opened his eyes.

Realizing there were two people standing in front of him, the boy shot up straight, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." He was barely an inch taller than Jaocb, *and had dark skin and green eyes. He had long black braided hair. He wore a long grey jacket that was bright green on the bottom half and had a Golden symbol for the Japanese kanji "Light" on the back. The jacket was open and revealed a white shirt under it. He wore grey pants that were green from the knees down. Lastly, he wore green and white shoes with black laces.*

Jacob looked him up and down, "Are you looking for the gym leader?"

He looked at Jacob and Clair and nodded, "I just got out of that cave and saw you run into the Pokemon Center. I figured you just finished a battle, so I waited here."

Nodding, Jacob looked at the trainer, "I'm the gym leader for today, since the permanent leader is out of town for an errand. You can battle me today, or wait for Willis tomorrow."

Still looking at one, then the other, the person quietly asked, "What's the difference?"

Jacob shrugged, "It's just something I have to say. Some trainers think a fill-in isn't good enough."

"That is true," the trainer looked down, "Maybe I should wait for tomorrow."

Clair was about to give her "he's good enough" speech again, but Jacob stopped her.

"I understand," Jacob said, "In that case, the Pokemon Center has a hotel, you can stay there for the night."

"I don't mean to be rude. I've been training to challenge this gym, I would rather face the true leader." He held an apologetic smile as he made eye contact with Jacob.

Jacob held out his hand and shook the trainer's, "Don't worry about it, good luck tom-"

"Wea!" Jacob's Pokemon shouted, ears up.

Jacob looked down in surprise, Weavile rarely interrupted unless there was something important. "What is-"

"Wea!" The Pokemon silenced its trainer, implying to the others to shut up and listen. Jacob crouched next to Weavile with his eyes closed, trying to listen for whatever was bothering his Pokemon. After a minute, he finally heard it; a low rumbling sound that came from the south.

Hearing the noise as well, Clair asked, "What is it? An earthquake?"

Jacob shook his head, "There hasn't been a recorded earthquake in over a hundred years. It has to be something else." Weavile turned around and ran away from the gym, toward Route 45. Jacob took the cue and ran after his Pokemon, motioning for Clair to follow. "You can come if you want!" he yelled at the Trainer, who chased after them almost instantly.

The rumbling grew louder as the three trainers approached the entrance to Route 45, and they could see a large dust cloud among the mountains in the distance.

"What is it?" The trainer asked, but was responded by an intense roar that erupted from the direction of the dust.

"Tyranitar." Jacob said, his gaze focused on the cloud.

"It's rampaging again," Clair commented.

"Wow," the trainer said, not even sounding afraid, "That must be a strong Pokemon."

"Come on!" Jacob said to the other two, pulling out a pokeball. Clair did the same, and the two threw them in the air. From Clair's came her Dragonite, healed and ready for more action. From Jacob's came his mighty Garchomp, who roared upon its release. The two Dragon Tamers climbed on their dragons as Jacob looked back to the trainer, "If you're coming, take your pick."

The trainer looked at Jacob and his Garchomp, then to Clair and her Dragonite. When he saw Clair looking at him, waiting, he blushed as he turned back to Jacob, saying, "I think I'll go with you."

Jacob motioned for the trainer to hurry, and when he was holding tightly on Garchomp's dorsal fin, the two Pseudo-legendary dragons took off.

Garchomp was much faster than Dragonite, and the shark-like Pokemon flew ahead of the other with great speed. The trainer looked up, clutching the dragon's fin for his life. "My name is Avery," he shouted over the wind, "Avery Wilson."

"You picked a hell of a time to give an introduction! Hold on!" Jacob yelled back, as he had his Pokemon dive down when they were nearer the dust cloud. As they approached, Jacob noticed there was a path of destroyed mounds and rocks that led into the dust cloud. Suddenly, a person sprinted out of the dust cloud and ran away as fast as he could. "No," Jacob muttered, as he recognized a large amount of red clothing on the man.

As Garchomp hovered above the ground about a hundred feet away from the cloud, the source of the destruction emerged. The Tyranitar stood at around twelve feet, twice as large as normal, and its green armor was scratched and dull with battle scars. It roared before chasing the man in red, who Jacob assumed was the same man from earlier.

"We have to land and figure out how to stop it," Jacob called back to Avery, who nodded. "Let's go, Garchomp!" The trainer told his dragon, who sped after the enormous Pokemon.

"What's the plan?" Avery asked.

"Bring down that Tyranitar and figure out what made it mad in the first place. Garchomp, I want you to set us down in front of that man. Then go and stall Tyranitar, okay?" Jacob's dragon nodded, and sped after the giant Pokemon.

It only took a few seconds for the Mach Pokemon to pass both Tyranitar and the man in red and spin around. "Dragon Pulse!" Jacob ordered, and Garchomp loosed a large turquoise ball of energy from its mouth at the Armor Pokemon. The attack caused the monsterous Pokemon to recoil back, but not for very long. Just enough time for Jacob's Pokemon to lower to the ground, allow its trainer and companion to jump off, and fly back into the air. "Dragon Rush!" Its trainer called out. Garchomp became engulfed in a blue light as it zoomed at the rampaging opponent. The pure strength of the attack when it collided with the green monster pushed the two back into the dust cloud, where they disappeared.

The man in red stopped in his tracks when he saw who had come in his way. Jacob ran up to him and angrily shouted, "What did you do!"

"What anyone would do; I saw a strong Pokemon and tried to catch it," the man said.

Jacob glared, "And when it started destroying everything, you didn't think to stop it?"

"Not my region, not my problem," he laughed before walking off. "Besides, Mr. Big Shot Temporary Gym Leader is here to save the day, now."

Jacob would have tackled the man if it weren't for the the sound of an explosion from within the dust. The trainers turned in time to see Garchomp, forcefully expelled from the cloud via Hyper Beam. The dragon crashed into the mountainside, but, before it could recover, Tyranitar charged from the cloud and into Jacob's Pokemon. On impact from the massive Pokemon, the mountain exploded, sending boulders and rocks everywhere.

The man shook his head, adjusted his hat and walked away as Jacob and Avery gasped at what had just happened. Jacob glanced at the man, looked up and immediately pulled out a pokeball. Throwing it at the man, he shouted, "Gardevoir, Psychic!"

The Embrace Pokemon appeared from its pokeball and held up its arms, illuminated by a blue light. The man in red turned around to see the Pokemon, only a few feet behind him, holding a massive boulder above them with its Psychic power. Gardevoir's eyes then shone a more intense blue as she pulled her arms back, then thrust them back up, launching the boulder at Tyranitar.

Readying another Hyper Beam at the downed Garchomp, Tyranitar never saw the boulder until the it smashed into its head. The Armor Pokemon stumbled to the side, using another mountainside to regain balance. This gave Garchomp the time to stand back up and fly into the air once more. Jacob cheered as he shouted to his dragon, "Garchomp, Dragon Pulse!"

Jacob's Pokemon flew to where Tyranitar was recoiling from Gardevoir's attack. The dragon fired a blue ball of energy at the monstrous Pokemon's head, where it collided and sent the Pokemon back into the mountain. Suddenly, from somewhere above, another Dragon Pulse crashed into Tyranitar, as Clair and her Dragonite descended.

"Keep attacking!" Jacob called out to his Garchomp, and the two dragons launched successive Dragon Pulse attacks at Tyranitar, sending it further into the mountain. They stopped a minute later, when the enormous Pokemon's roars subsided.

The two Dragon Types turned around in the air and flew back to the group, Clair still riding her Dragonite. Jacob smirked as Clair jumped off of her Pokemon, "It took you long enough!"

Laughing, Clair jumped off her Pokemon, "I'm sorry your Garchomp is so much faster than my Dragonite. At least we stopped the Tyranitar, right?" She looked at Jacob, then to Avery, who blushed and nodded.

A chuckle from the man in red cause everyone to turn to him, "It doesn't seem like that Pokemon is down yet. You shouldn't celebrate so soon."

Jacob spun around to face the man and shouted, "You should be grateful! I saved your-"

The mountain exploded as Tyranitar's Hyper Beam blasted at them, interrupting Jacob's scolding. The four trainers gazed as the massive beam flew at them with terrible speed, as well as what became of the former mountain. Before anyone could react, Jacob's Gardevoir appeared in front of them all, facing the attack with her whole body glowing a dark blue.

"Gardevoir?" Jacob started, but his Pokemon thrust her arms forward, sending a large beam of dark blue light that seemed to crackle with black electricity at the approaching attack. The beam exploded with a blue and black light when it collided with Tyranitar's Hyper Beam. The boulders that were flying towards the trainers slowed down and stopped in mid-air, only feet away from impact. They then reversed direction and flew backward, to the growing blue and black explosion.

Gardevoir fell to her knees, while the blue light burned brighter and brighter over her body, as the explosion grew larger. Jacob ran to her side as the wind picked up, blowing toward the black and blue light. "Gardevoir, you don't need to do this!" he shouted at the Pokemon. He held out Gardevoir's pokeball, but when the red light that would normally cause a return touched the Pokemon, the light shattered as if nothing had happened.

"What is she doing?" Clair yelled as the increasing wind flung her hair into her face.

Instead of Jacob, who was distracted with his Pokemon, the man in red responded, clutching his fedora to his head, without taking his eyes off of Jacob, "It's Gardevoir's special ability. When a Gardevoir has an incredibly strong bond with its trainer, it will do anything to ensure his protection. If she feels her trainer is in life threatening danger, she will sacrifice her own life to create a black hole and stop the problem."

"But I'm not letting that happen! Gardevoir, just let go and we will be safe!" Jacob nearly screamed, kneeling next to the Psychic Type.

Since every trainer was looking at Jacob and his Pokemon, they failed to notice the boulders disappearing into the ever growing black hole. Slowly, but surely, every piece of the mountain was flying into the hole.

"Gardevoir, please stop this!" Jacob pleaded, "I'm safe now, the mountain is gone. You don't need to sacrifice yourself!"

Jacob's Pokemon fell to her hands as she continued to release all of her psychic energy. The black hole continued to inhale everything around it, except for the people and Pokemon. The surrounding mountains started to crack and crumble as the force of the black hole became too unbearable.

"Gar?"

At first, Jacob thought he had imagined it. He looked up but still found his Pokemon on the ground, glowing.

"Gar... de... voir..."

This time, he knew he had heard it. He turned his head to see the black hole slowly receding, after growing to twice the size of the Tyranitar. Looking back, he saw his Pokemon looking up at him, still glowing, but with a slightly less intensity.

Jacob smiled at his Pokemon, who's glow faded as the black hole shrunk. After a minute, both Gardevoir's glow and the black hole disappeared simultaneously. When the wind subsided, Jacob's Pokemon fell to the ground, much to the shock of everyone.

"Is she...?" Clair fearfully asked.

"No," Jacob said, relieved, "She's just very weak." For the second time, Jacob held out Gardevoir's pokeball. This time, however, he managed to return her. "She needs to go to a Pokemon Center as soon as possible. Let's-"

Tyranitar's roar interrupted Jacob once more, as the Armor Pokemon reminded everyone of its presence. It glared at the group and prepared to charge.

"Right, then," Jacob said, "Clair, you take Gardevoir to the Pokemon Center. She needs to go there now, understand?"

Clair looked worriedly at Jacob, then to Tyranitar, "What about you?"

"Don't worry. We'll be fine," Jacob smirked and looked back at Avery, who nodded. He stood and handed Clair the pokeball, "Please, hurry."

"I will," she replied, and jumped onto her Dragonite. The dragon pumped its wings and flew into the air. As everyone watched Clair and her Pokemon fly up, Avery turned in time to see Tyranitar hurl a large boulder at the former gym leader.

Quickly, he pulled a pokeball from his belt and shouted, "Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

As everyone who was still on the ground brought their attention to Avery, the bipedal, dog-like Aura Pokemon emerged from the pokeball and immediately held its paws together. A blue sphere of Aura formed between the two paws and grew until Lucario threw it at the incoming boulder.

The sphere collided with the boulder, shattering it into dust, allowing Clair and her Dragonite to escape safely. Tyranitar roared in anger and took a large step back, ready to charge at the group.

"We need to work together to stop Tyranitar," Jacob told Avery, who nodded.

"What should we do?"

Jacob held an excited smile as he looked at the battle at hand. "Tyranitar is a Rock and Dark Type, which means it is especially weak to Fighting Types, like Lucario."

"Right."

"We need to get Lucario close, quickly, to attack Tyranitar." Jacob looked between Garchomp and Lucario as Tyranitar began to run at them.

Suddenly, Jacob's idea clicked into Avery's brain, and he shouted, "Lucario! Jump on Garchomp's back!" The Aura Pokemon did as told.

"Good job," Jacob smiled, "Garchomp, use Dragon Pulse to get Tyranitar's attention, then take Lucario into the sky above!"

When Lucario had braced itself on the Garchomp's back, the dragon fired an attack at Tyranitar, successful at stopping its charge. Then, the dragon took off, taking Lucario with it, into the sky. The enormous Tyranitar watched them as they rose, until they stopped ascending directly above the green Pokemon. As if it was expecting this, Tyranitar sent a massive Hyper Beam into the sky at them.

"HA!" Jacob exclaimed, "Just what I was waiting for! Garchomp, fire a Draco Meteor into the sky, then dive down!"

"Lucario, when Garchomp dives, send as many Aura Spheres as you can at Tyranitar!" Avery followed Jacob's lead, the two in near perfect sync.

Before the Hyper Beam hit, Garchomp charged and released a giant orange orb of energy into the sky. The dragon then back-flipped, with Lucario holding on tight, and dove past the Hyper Beam, directly toward Tyranitar. Lucario squeezed its legs to hang on, and held its two paws forward. It charged and launched successive Aura Spheres from each paw onto Tyranitar's head, pummeling it closer to the ground with each hit.

As this was happening, the Hyper Beam blasted into the Draco Meteor, causing it to explode and send energy meteors that were much larger than normal down to the ground.

"Lucario, jump down and bring that Pokemon to the ground with one more Aura Sphere!" Avery yelled, getting excited.

As Garchomp continued to dive, Lucario jumped off of the dragon, charging an Aura Sphere with both paws. Garchomp extended its wings, caught the air and veered off, leveling itself with the ground before flying back to Jacob. Lucario thrust the Aura Sphere forward smashed it into Tyranitar's head, finally bringing it into the ground.

"Extremespeed! Get out of there before the Draco Meteor hits!"

Lucario looked up, saw the meteors were only a second away from impact, and sped away at a high speed, making it back to the group in time to turn in the same manner as Weavile had done earlier in the day, and watch the attack collide with Tyranitar and the ground. Each meteor sent clouds of dust into the air until the area became a dense fog of dust.

Finally, all was quiet in the mountains. Not even the wind blew, until the silence was broken. "Woah," Avery said, astounded at the sight of what had just happened.

"Welcome to my life," Jacob chuckled. The three trainers, along with Garchomp, Lucario, and Weavile, who had been standing with Jacob the whole time, waited as the dust cloud slowly began to settle.

After a minute or so, the dust cleared enough to reveal the unmoving Tyranitar on the ground. Jacob smiled and looked at Avery, "Do you have a pokeball?"

Nodding, Avery took off his green backpack and reached into it. A second later he pulled out an empty pokeball, asking, "Are you going to catch it?"

Jacob tossed the pokeball in one hand and responded, "Sort of," before throwing it as hard as he could at the fallen Pokemon. The pokeball bounced off of Tyranitar's foot, and opened to cover the Pokemon with a red light. The Armor Pokemon was then absorbed by the light, and receded into the pokeball, which landed on the ground upon closing.

It shook once.

It shook again.

It shook a third time.

The pokeball made a soft click as the Pokemon inside stopped struggling, and gave into its new ownership. Avery patted Jacob on the back as the Dragon Tamer ran forward to pick up the pokeball. The man in red simply stared.

"Avery," Jacob started, bringing the pokeball back to the other two, "do you have a super potion? I'll buy you a new one as well as a pokeball when we get back to Blackthorn."

"Yeah, I do," Avery said, reaching into his bag again, "I still don't see what you're doing."

When he was given the spray bottle that miraculously healed Pokemon, Jacob clicked the circle of the Pokeball onto the cap of the bottle. He squeezed the trigger of the bottle until all of its contents were emptied into the pokeball, and he tossed the bottle aside.

"I see," the man in red bluntly said, "you got mad when I tried to catch that Pokemon, but when you catch it, there's no problem."

Jacob snapped, "Will you shut up and pay attention?" He then threw the pokeball out in front of him, releasing the enormous Tyranitar. It looked as if it never endured the intense battle that occurred moments ago. "Tyranitar, I release you back into the wild. Go back to your children in peace."

The giant Pokemon nodded at the trainer, before walking away. Jacob then turned to the man in red once more and glared, "That Tyranitar has been in these mountains for years. She has a family here. I know this because I was the one who discovered them. She attacked you to protect that family from what she believed to be a threat. Now, how about you go back to whatever region you came from? Try not to cause the destruction of everything around you, this time." Turning his back, Jacob started walking to his Garchomp. Avery withdrew his Lucario and joined Jacob, while Weavile jumped on his trainer's back.

The man in red smirked and called back, "That region is called the Cherto Region."

Jacob looked back, "Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't, we just opened our borders to travelers."

"I take it I'm worthy to learn who you are, then?"

Still smirking, the man responded, "You saved my life. However," the man paused to lift his trench coat, revealing six pokeballs, "I didn't need you to. I just wanted to see if you were capable. Any trainer who has built such a strong bond with a Gardevoir that she will risk her own life, as well as one who can keep cool in any situation, is pretty damn deserving."

Jacob faced the man, "So, who are you?"

"My name is Henry Montresor, though I am known by everyone as Fortunato." The man adjusted his fedora as he turned to walk away, "I am the Cherto Region Champion. If you're lucky, maybe you'll face me again someday. Don't get your hopes up on winning." Montresor laughed and walked away as Jacob and Avery stared.

When the man disappeared behind a hill, Avery whistled, "That explains a lot."

"Yeah," Jacob agreed, and turned back to his Garchomp. He climbed on first, followed by Avery, and the two flew off without another word, back to Blackthorn City.

* * *

"Your Gardevoir is going to be in the Center for the night, but she will be fine," Clair said to Jacob as soon as he and Avery had arrived from the mountains. By that time, the sun was beginning to set. "What happened?"

Relived from the good news about his Gardevoir, Jacob answered, "I told you we would stop Tyranitar. I had to catch her, but then I set her free to go back to her family."

Clair nodded, "Good. What about that jerk from earlier?"

"Turns out he's the Champion from somewhere called the Cherto Region," Jacob replied, watching Clair's eyes widen.

"So that's why he asked about Lance!" She exclaimed as the information settled in her head. "That's impressive."

Nodding, Jacob almost forgot about something. He turned to Avery, "You're here for a gym battle, aren't you?"

Avery laughed, having forgotten about it himself, "Yeah. I changed my mind too. I would love to have my gym battle against you, today."

"Unfortunately, I need to heal my Pokemon, and the gym will be closing soon, so it looks like you'll have to battle Willis tomorrow." Jacob shrugged at the trainer.

"Oh..." Avery sighed.

"Sorry, maybe some other time?" Jacob negotiated.

"Yeah, definitely!" The trainer exclaimed, though it seemed like he wanted to say something else.

Jacob stared at the trainer, until finally he had to ask, "Is there anything else?"

"Um... I was wondering if I could train here with you two for a few weeks."

Clair and Jacob looked at each other, before Clair asked, "Why?"

Blushing, Avery replied, "I want to train my Pokemon against Dragons. Almost a year ago, I won the Indigo League, and was allowed to take the Elite Four Challenge. After making it through that, I lost badly against Lance and his dragon Pokemon. I took it upon myself to travel through Johto, and make it here to train, and finally be ready to face Lance again."

Leaning over to Jacob, Clair whispered, "Sounds like you."

Jacob ignored his best friend as he placed a hand on Avery's shoulder, "I'm sure we'll be able to help you with that."

Avery smiled at the two trainers and thanked them.

_At least, _Jacob thought to himself, _I'll help until I find the next ferry to the Cherto Region.

* * *

_**A/N: Hope you liked it! First, the Cherto Region is pronounced Chair-Toe. OC Credits: Henry Montresor - Lawrence IV... Avery Wilson - PhantoMNiGHT321. I'm going to try to use at least one OC per chapter, but don't hold me to that statement. Also, I can get busy, since I am a college student, but I work on this story in most of my free time. That means I will try to get each episode up as soon as possible. If it comes to be two weeks without a post, contact be, because there's a problem XD. My next episode hints are these. Title: "Dawn of a New Adventure," and Jacob and Avery actually have a battle. Until next time, See ya! **


	4. Episode 3: Dawn of a New Adventure

**A/N: Hello again! Sorry it took me so long to post a new chapter, I was stuck in trying to figure out who would win between Avery and Jacob, and gave up after a while. Anyway, I'm back and on track! Now for review responses! **

**Lawrence IV: I'm glad you enjoyed the placement of your OC. I thought he would make a very interesting (in a good way) champ! **

**PhantoMNiGHT321: I thought it was pretty cool too. I'm glad you liked the idea as much as I did. **

**Frozen Seagull: I think I'm officially calling you this fiction's biggest fan! I hope you like this episode as much as you have for the series! **

**ShadowNinja333: I'm happy this story has a new fan! I hope you stay along for the ride! **

**And now, Episode 3! oh... and anything in this episode that isn't an OC belongs to Nintendo. If you can't tell who's an OC and who isn't... go to Bulbapedia/Serebii/Psypokes and find out. Enjoy!

* * *

**The clouds in the sky were painted deep shades of red and orange as the sun began to rise from behind Mount Silver. The light seemed to bring the entire mountain range to life as the local Pokemon began to awaken and begin their days. A flock of Skarmory flew overhead to their nests in the tallest mountain in Kanto and Johto, unaware of the trainer watching them from below.

Jacob stood at the entrance to the Dragon's Den, staring at the morning sky. He turned around to look at Blackthorn City for a moment and sighed, before entering the cave. He descended the ladder that led to the water-filled main chamber of the Den and crossed the bridge to the temple. As he did the last time he was in the Dragon's Den, Jacob paused at the doors of the temple. He shoved a small piece of paper he had been holding into his pocket before finally pushing the doors to enter.

"Jacob!" The Elder of the Dragon Clan greeted from his throne at the far end of the rectangular room, "We were not expecting a visit from you."

"It has been over a month," Jacob said, kneeling.

"Yes, it has. Now, what is the reason for your presence?" The Elder never was one for small talk.

Jacob stared at the ground, "I'm sure you know that I intend to leave Blackthorn City again."

Nodding, the Elder replied, "You told us, yourself, that you were not going to stay, Jacob."

"Right."

"Where do you plan to go?"

"The Cherto Region," Jacob responded.

"I see," the Elder looked up. He gave the wall a vacant stare, his mind obviously occupied. Finally, he spoke again, "So, your mind is made up?"

Refusing to make eye contact, Jacob continued to look at the ground, "Yes. I can't stay here if I want to be a better trainer."

"How long do you intend to travel?" The Elder didn't seem as fond of Jacob's plan.

"As long as it takes."

With a confused stare, the Elder asked, "What, exactly, is it you wish to accomplish on this _new _journey?"

Jacob shook his head, eyes still on the ground, and said, "I don't know. Most trainers strive to be gym leaders or champions."

"But you refused to become the gym leader."

Holding back the urge to be sarcastic, Jacob continued, "Exactly. I doubt I want to be a champion, but losing at that tournament made me realize that I could be so much stronger of a trainer. Maybe then, I'll figure out what to do with my life."

"Simply," the Elder started, "you're going to an unknown region for an unknown length of time?"

Smirking, Jacob replied, "More or less."

The Elder shook his head in disappointment, "You are such a great influence in Blackthorn City. We do not look fondly when someone of your reverence repeatedly leaves for his own reasons."

"I know."

"Then, I hope you also know that, since we would prefer you stayed, we will not keep any of your Pokemon as we did when you traveled to Hoenn."

Jacob chuckled, "I didn't plan on leaving any. Not with you, at least."

After a pause, the Elder spoke with a bitter tone, "Since there seems to be no way of stopping you, when do you plan to leave?"

Standing, Jacob pulled out the piece of paper he had placed in his pocket; a ferry ticket, and showed it to the others. "I'm leaving in four hours."

At that, the trainer wordlessly stood, turned around and left the Dragon Temple.

The Blackthorn Prodigy

**Episode 3: Dawn of a New Adventure**

Jacob entered the Blackthorn City Gym to find the three people he had wanted to see; Clair, his greatest friend since childhood, Jasmine, the Olivine City Gym leader and another of Jacob's best friends, and Avery Wilson, Jacob's newest friend. Only a week had passed since the day Avery arrived in Blackthorn, but he was already quite close to Clair and Jacob.

Jasmine, on the other hand, had arrived a day prior, to everyone's surprise. She wanted to give Jacob the ticket to the Cherto Region in person. It was she who spoke first when Jacob entered the gym, "How did it go?"

Shrugging, Jacob joined the group, "As I thought they would. They didn't like it, so I just left."

"I didn't think they would," Clair said. Since she left the gym, she started dressing in more casual attire. This day she was wearing a solid blue T-shirt with a black vest. She still wore her blue gloves that had large black rings around the wrist, and she sported dark blue jeans. "They try too hard to keep you here."

"I know. Oh well, in a few hours I'll be on my way," Jacob smiled, excited for what was to come.

"So," Avery started, "What's your goal while you're there? Are you going to challenge their league?"

Jacob nodded, "If it's the only way I can get a rematch with that Montressor guy, yeah. Besides, if I want to be a better trainer, that's the best way to do it, right?" The other three trainers agreed as Jacob looked at the time on his phone, "I can't believe I'll be on my way to another region in only a few hours."

"It must be exciting," Clair said, looking away.

"Well, of course it is!" Jasmine beamed, nearly bouncing in place. Suddenly, her attention seemed to shift as she stopped bouncing and looked around, "Hey," she said. "Where's Willis?"

"Training in the Ice Path. He thinks he can make his dragons immune to Ice Types if he trains there long enough." Jacob shook his head and continued, "He should be back in a few minutes."

"Well then," Avery started, "we have some time!"

"For what?" Jacob asked.

"You said the day I showed up that we would eventually battle. This is your last day, why not now?" Avery had a determined look on his face. After all, he had been looking for a battle since that day.

Jacob couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, I guess I'll have to keep my word. Alright we can have a quick battle."

A smile appeared on Avery's face as he inwardly cheered, and ran to the challenger side of the battlefield. Jacob placed his hands in his pockets and stepped into the gym leader side of the field. He, too, was excited for the battle, but he was far more anxious for the boat to leave. The two gym leaders shrugged to each other, and found their way to the side of the field, with Jasmine as the judge. more.

"How about a three-on-three battle?" Jacob asked his challenger.

"Works for me," Avery smirked.

"Are you two ready?" Jasmine asked in an all-too-innocent voice. The two trainers nodded.

Jacob changed from his excited self to battle ready almost instantly as he said, "I'll start this show. Go, Dewgong!" The Sea Lion Pokemon cheered as it emerged from the pokeball.

"I almost forgot, you're the Dragon Tamer who doesn't like to use Dragon Types. Go, Raichu!"

The evolved form of Pikachu was only a little taller than its predecessor, but much bulkier. It's light brown fur sparked with electricity whenever the Pokemon would bat its dark brown forepaws together. It showed off the large, yellow lightning bolt shape that made the tip of its otherwise long, dark brown tail.

When both Pokemon were ready, Jasmine raised her arms, "Let the battle begin!"

"Raichu, Thunderbolt!"

"Ice Beam!"

Dewgong opened its mouth and sent a powerful beam of ice at the Mouse Pokemon, who had done the same with a large bolt of electricity.

The two beams collided in the center of the field and exploded, but caused no harm to the two Pokemon.

"Raichu, Quick Attack!" Avery shouted. Suddenly, his Pokemon sprinted toward Dewgong at full speed. At the last moment, Raichu jumped and slammed into Dewgong. However, the attack seemed to do nothing to the Sea Lion Pokemon's immense defense.

"Ice Beam!" Jacob shouted, and Raichu couldn't react in time to dodge the point blank attack. When the beam collided, Avery's Pokemon was launched back to his own side.

"Raichu! Are you okay?" Avery asked, but was relieved when Raichu quickly stood back on his feet and sparked electricity from its cheek sacs. "Great! Let's try this differently, use Quick Attack again!"

"Surf!" Jacob yelled moments later, and before Raichu could get close, Dewgong seemed to erupt with water as the two Pokemon charged at each other.

"Quick! Switch to Volt Tackle!" Avery said, and his Pokemon complied by engulfing itself in electric power. Raichu and Dewgong's attacks crashed together, but Raichu's Electric attack overtook Dewgong's Water Type, and the latter took the most damage. "Now, finish with another Thunderbolt!"

Before Dewgong could react, it was bombarded with a powerful bolt of electricity. The attack sent Dewgong flying, landing on its back.

"Come on, Dewgong, get up!" Jacob encouraged his Pokemon. The Sea Lion Pokemon, through much struggle, managed to roll onto its fins once more. It was panting from exhaustion. "Good job! Use Rest!"

Avery raised an eyebrow as Dewgong closed its eyes, and fell asleep. All of its bruises and scratches from the battle disappeared, though. "Okay. Raichu, Thunderbolt while Dewgong is asleep!"

The Mouse Pokemon charged, then launched another bolt of electricity at its opponent, but Jacob smirked, "Sleep Talk."

Eyes still closed, Dewgong opened its mouth and sent an Ice Beam at the thunderbolt, resulting in another stalemate in attacks. "Again!" Jacob yelled, and this time Dewgong used Surf and began to ride its own water toward Raichu.

"Volt Tackle!" Avery called out, and soon, the two Pokemon were charging at each other again with their own attacks.

This time, when the attacks collided, the impact shook Dewgong from its sleep, and it was soon alerted to the battle again. "Quick, Ice Beam!" Jacob commanded, and his Pokemon reacted with a beam of ice to Raichu's face, sending the Mouse Pokemon flying and into the ground, hard.

"Raichu is unable to battle," Jasmine held up a hand to Jacob, "Dewgong is the winner!"

The audience of Clair clapped as Avery recalled his Pokemon. "Well, that was interesting. But I expected something like this would happen. Let's show Dewgong what you can do, Sceptile!"

When the Forest Pokemon revealed itself, it slashed the air with the leaf blades on its arms before standing battle ready. It stood only proudly, with yellow eyes and green skin, and shook its palm tree branch-like tail to stretch. The six yellow seeds on its back seemed to reflect light.

"Ice Beam!" Jacob called, ready to end this round quickly.

"Dodge, then use Quick Attack to get close." Avery's Pokemon jumped to the side, narrowly, and zoomed into close range. "Now, Leaf Blade!"

The blades on Sceptile's arms glowed a light green and extended to about a yard in length. The reptile slashed at Dewgong multiple times with these blades, and finally slashed Jacob's Pokemon so hard that it was launched into a wall and on the ground.

"Dewgong is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner!" Jasmine called out. Avery took a quick glance at Clair, who was clapping, before cheering on his Pokemon for a job well done.

Jacob returned his Dewgong and pulled out another pokeball. "Good job, Avery. But let's see how well you fare against one of my strongest Pokemon. You're up, Typhlosion!"

"Oh, great," Avery sighed at the type disadvantage. "Sceptile, we can't give up hope yet! Quick Attack then Leaf Blade!"

"Flame Wheel!"

Again, Sceptile charged at his opponent at high speed, extending the blades from its arm. Typhlosion's fiery mane exploded in flames that consumed the Fire Type as he ran on all four legs at Sceptile. Before Sceptile could even swing its arm, Typhlosion slammed into the Grass Type, sending him flying back from a severe impact.

"Typhlosion, Sunny Day!"

While Sceptile was struggling to get up from the ground, Typhlosion charged a ball of fire in its mouth. When it was ready, Jacob's Pokemon sent it high into the air. The fireball collided with the roof of the gym and exploded, casting an immense heat and light into the arena.

"Good, now use Flame Wheel again!"

The heat and light from the false Sun gave Typhlosion energy as the flames on its back grew larger, and the Fire Starter of Johto once again engulfed itself in these flames and ran towards Sceptile, who had just gotten up.

"Quick, use Solarbeam!" Avery called out. He knew he was in need of a strong attack.

Sceptile's seeds on its back glowed yellow as it absorbed light from Typhlosion's "Sun," and the Forest Pokemon fired an immense beam of light out of its mouth at the approaching Pokemon.

Solarbeam collided directly with Typhlosion's fire and managed to slow down the Volcano Pokemon. Typhlosion continued to use its Flame Wheel to plow through the Solarbeam, but made no progress.

"Get out of the way before you tire yourself out, Typhlosion!" Jacob shouted, and his Pokemon spun away and allowed the beam to pass.

"Solarbeam, again!" Avery called out. His Pokemon quickly charged another attack, using Typhlosion's own Sunny Day against him, and fired again.

Impressed by Avery's quick thinking, Jacob almost forgot to order Typhlosion to dodge the attack. Luckily for him, his Pokemon was smart enough to do so without the command, and jumped over the attack.

"Thanks for thinking for me, Typhlosion, now end this with Eruption!" Jacob shouted, refocusing on the battle.

The flame on Typhlosion's back grew enormously, and Jacob's Pokemon loosed a blast of what looked like pure lava from its mouth at Sceptile.

"Counter with another Solarbeam!" Avery yelled again. Sceptile launched one more beam of light from its mouth, and the two powerful attacks met between the two powerful Pokemon. However, Solarbeam wasn't enough to compare to the much-more-powerful Eruption, and the stalemate began to lean in Typhlosion's favor. Soon enough, Sceptile couldn't hold out his own attack, and was overcome by the intense Fire Type attack, which sent the Grass Type flying into a wall, badly burned.

"Sceptile!" Avery yelled, as Jasmine declared Typhlosion the victor. He ran to his Pokemon, who weakly looked back at him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Avery recalled Sceptile and congratulated him on a great round. He then turned back to Jacob completely serious. "I knew this would be an exciting battle," he said. "Go, Milotic!"

When Avery's pokeball opened, the Pokemon that emerged was called out loudly. It looked like a large snake that was mostly creme colored with the exception of its tail, which sported red and blue scales and a large tail fin of the same colors. It had red eyes with pink antennae and hair-like fins extending from the side of its head. Jasmine and Clair nearly gasped at her beauty.

Jacob couldn't help but smile as well, but remained focused, "Don't think you've won just yet. You did just watch a Water Type beat an Electric Type."

"We'll see about that. Milotic, Hydro Pump!"

"Dodge, then use Flame Wheel!"

Milotic unleashed a massive torrent of water from her mouth at Typhlosion, who ignited in flames, ducked under the attack and sprinted at Milotic. When he was close, the Fire Type jumped for an aerial flaming tackle.

"Aqua Tail!" Avery shouted at the last second. Milotic's tail became surrounded by a spiral of water, which the Pokemon whipped around and slammed into the oncoming Typhlosion. The water in the attack doused the flames that consumed Jacob's Pokemon, and smashed through his attack. Typhlosion was knocked back several feet, but quickly regained his footing.

"Flame Wheel, again!" Jacob shouted.

"Milotic, use Aqua Tail once again," Avery said.

As before, Typhlosion charged, in flames, at the Water Type. Again, Milotic interrupted the attack with its own watery tail, and, for the second time, Typhlosion was knocked back by another super effective attack. He had a little more difficulty getting back up.

"While Typhlosion is down, use one more Aqua Tail!" Avery ordered, and the serpent jumped in the air with another Aqua Tail ready to slam into the Volcano Pokemon.

"Solarbeam!" Jacob shouted triumphantly. Typhlosion looked up at the oncoming Pokemon, opened its mouth and simultaneously charged and unloaded its own beam of light at the Water Type. The attack collided with Milotic in the head, and sent the Pokemon back to where it came from.

When Milotic recovered from the attack, Avery glanced at the false Sun above and nodded, "I get it. You knew I would use a Water Type to fight your Typhlosion. That's clever!"

"Thanks. Typhlosion, use Solarbeam again!"

"Hydro Pump!"

The two Pokemon fired off their respective attacks, which collided with a loud _crash_ between them. They both continued their attack, trying to outlast the other, but the clash continued to be a stalemate.

"Come on, Typhlosion! You can do this!"

"Milotic, keep it up!"

The two trainers cheered as their Pokemon persevered through trying to beat the others attack. Slowly, to Jacob's horror, the Hydro Pump attack began to inch closer to Typhlosion. He looked up and learned why; the Sunny Day move was fading fast. This meant that Solarbeam would slowly lose power because of the lack of sunlight. When he looked back down, Jacob saw that Milotic's attack was only a few feet away from Typhlosion.

"Flame Wheel!" Jacob yelled at the last second. However, a moment later, the "Sun" blinked out, the deluge of water plowed over Typhlosion, who disappeared within the torrent. Steam hissed louder than a waterfall at the point where Jacob's Pokemon was standing, but nobody could see what was happening within the water.

Avery stood with a grand smile on his face, sure of the outcome as Milotic ended her attack. Jacob was tense, hoping his plan had worked. Even Clair stood up in anticipation. What they saw wiped the smile from Avery's face.

Typhlosion still stood, barely, with his fur sizzling, but only barely wet. The flame on the back of his neck was only a small ember, and there were scorch marks on the ground around the Volcano Pokemon.

"What!" Avery shouted in surprise.

"Flame Wheel," Jacob smiled, "It didn't stop the attack, but it was able to lessen its power."

"How'd you know to do that?"

Jacob pointed to Clair, "She dragged me to the Kanto Grand Festival around a year and a half ago. I watched a Combusken use Overheat on an Absol's Water Pulse, and was able to last through multiple attacks. I showed the strategy to Typhlosion soon after."

"Wow. Impressive. Too bad your Pokemon is too weak to do anything about it, now. Milotic, use Aqua Tail once more!" Avery pointed at the almost downed Typhlosion, as if selecting a target.

Milotic jumped at the Fire Type again, with its tail surrounded by water once again. The serpent then flipped over in mid-air, and slammed Typhlosion to the ground.

"Typhlosion is un-"

"Wait!" Jacob yelled, staring intently at his Pokemon. The Volcano Pokemon was unmoving, with its flame only barely burning.

"Jacob, Typhlosion's done," Avery said. Jacob only stared, with his hand up to Jasmine to prevent her from calling the round just yet.

There was a spark of blue. Only Jacob saw it at first.

"Jacob," Clair started.

It happened again. A slightly larger spark this time. Jacob was sure of it.

Typhlosion moved its front paw. Placing it on the ground, the Pokemon lifted its other paw and weakly pushed itself up.

"Don't even try it, Jacob. Typhlosion's endured more than he should," Avery said.

Jacob looked at his Pokemon and said, "I know you can do this."

Shaking his head, Avery sighed, "I'm sorry, but I need to win. Milotic, use Ice Beam."

There was another spark, it was more of a small flame now, as Avery's Pokemon charged an attack. Finally, the flame grew, just what Jacob was waiting for. "Now!" he yelled, "Eruption!"

The blue flame on Typhlosion's back exploded several feet into the air as the Blaze Ability kicked in, and Jacob's Pokemon seemed to come to life once more. Just as Milotic sent her Ice Beam, Typhlosion erupted with a blast of lava, which quickly dissipated Milotic's attack and engulfed the Water Type.

"Follow with Flame Wheel!" Jacob yelled, excitement in his voice. Blue fire enveloped Typhlosion, who charged at breakneck pace at Milotic.

"Aqua Tail!" Avery responded. His Pokemon regained composure and readied its watery attack. Like a baseball bat, Milotic swung its tail at the right moment and made contact with Typhlosion's attack.

"Flip, then Eruption!" Jacob ordered. Typhlosion ducked his head down, allowing Milotic's tail to flip himself over the attack. When he was leveled again, he used the flames surrounding him and sent them close range at his opponent in another Eruption attack. At such a short distance, the blast exploded on impact.

The explosion sent Typhlosion back to his own side, where he landed on all fours and growled at the dust cloud where Milotic was somewhere inside. The blue flames on Typhlosion receded back and red ones took their place once more, and Typhlosion began to calm.

The dust from the explosion faded to reveal Milotic, on the ground, unconscious.

"Milotic is unable to battle," Jasmine cheered, "Typhlosion is the winner! Jacob wins the match!"

Clair and Jasmine clapped for Jacob, while Avery ran to his Pokemon and petted his head. "That was amazing!" Jasmine nearly screamed, while jumping up and down and clapping rapidly.

Jacob stepped next to his Typhlosion, who looked up at him, exhausted. Jasmine and Clair stopped clapping as he spoke to his Pokemon.

"Jasmine is right, that was amazing. I'm sorry for pushing you so hard, but I'm also glad you managed to activate Blaze. That was the best you've ever done." Jacob petted his Pokemon behind the ear, and placed his head on Typhlosion's.

They both knew what was coming next.

"I'm going to miss you most while I'm gone. You know that?"

Typhlosion licked Jacob's cheek.

"I really want to take you, but we both know I can't leave Weavile, and Flygon needs the training. If I want to be a better trainer, I need to catch more Pokemon, and do what I did with Hoenn with Flygon and Gardevoir."

Jacob, oblivious to the fact that everyone was watching him console one of his best friends, continued. "Besides, if I don't have Flygon, how would I get back to see you?"

Typhlosion gave a low, sad growl.

"I know. I know. I wish I could take you. I really do." Jacob stood, and helped Typhlosion up before pulling out his pokeball. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." He smiled as he pointed the pokeball at Typhlosion. "I'll see you soon." He recalled the Pokemon and stared at the pokeball for several seconds.

"That was an excellent battle. I guess I still have a lot to learn." Avery held out his hand to Jacob, who took it.

"Yeah. I'm glad we could have it."

Avery chuckled, "It was close though. If Typhlosion didn't activate Blaze, I would've-"

"Had one more Pokemon to face." Jacob interrupted, to finish the sentence.

Avery's smile turned into a look of sheer confusion. "What?"

"Typhlosion was only my second Pokemon. You still would have had to face my Weavile."

Avery said nothing as he realized this fact was true.

Jacob simply laughed and turned toward the door, "Come on, I have to get going soon."

The four trainers grouped together and walked out of the gym with Jacob in the lead. The moment they stepped outside, though, Jacob literally walked into Willis, returning from his training.

"Woah," He said, "did I miss something?"

Smiling, still, Jacob responded, "Yeah. You did. You got back just in time to see me off. I just need to finish a few things, so let's meet here in an hour, okay?" Before even receiving a response, Jacob turned around and ran off toward the Poke-mart.

* * *

An hour later, Willis, Avery, Clair and Jasmine had regathered in front of the Gym, but none of them knew where Jacob was.

"It's been an hour, right?" Avery asked, to which Clair nodded. She had barely spoken all day. The two leaders, one former leader, and trainer stood for several minutes, waiting for Jacob to arrive. After a while, Avery started looking around, as if trying to find interest in everything. Willis was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground with his arms crossed. Jasmine shifted her weight from her toes to her heels and rocked back and forth.

Clair stood motionless, with her eyes on her feet and her hands in her pockets. She didn't know what to do. Jacob was leaving, her best friend would soon be gone again, leaving her alone. But she had to stay, she was the one the Elders wanted to watch over Willis until _they_ deemed him ready to be on his own. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if it was she who was leaving and not Jacob. But deep down, she knew she was the better choice to stay. Jacob was too freewheeling. The Elders knew he would leave against their wishes. _But they knew I would never go against my grandfather_, she thought.

Jacob's voice interrupted her thoughts, "Hey, sorry I'm late." Clair shook her head to remove her thoughts and looked up. Jacob had a new wardrobe selection. He switched his black, cotton jacket for a leather one of the same color. The new jacket had two small belt straps on each arm, as well as a silver colored zipper. He had replaced his black baseball cap with a pair of sunglasses, having heard the Cherto Region was to the south. He wore black, fingerless gloves, but still had his normal red T-shirt underneath. He wore blue jeans over obviously new, black sneakers. He had a black backpack that looked like it was already half full.

"Hey!" Jasmine jumped, "What happened to the backpack I gave you when you went to Hoenn?"

"Oh," Jacob paused, "It broke while Flygon and I were trying to avoid a flock of Wingull over Route 130. Very sharp beaks..."

Jasmine couldn't help but giggle, as Jacob smiled and pulled out a pokeball. He threw the ball to reveal his Flygon, signaling that his departure was imminent. He looked at the four people in front of him, and started his goodbyes.

"Avery," the trainer stood a little taller when he heard his name, "I wish you the best of luck in the Silver Conference. When you win, give me a call and I'll watch you go after the Elite Four. Trust me, they're tough." He held out his hand.

Accepting the handshake, Avery smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be ready. Just be sure I get to watch you beat the Cherto Champion, got it?"

"Deal," Jacob nodded, before moving to the next person in line. "Willis. I have three words for you. Don't screw up." Willis, for once, had nothing to say, so he nodded.

"Jasmine, well you're coming back to Olivine so I don't need to say goodbye to you just yet."

Again, she giggled and pulled out a pokeball containing her Skarmory.

"Right. Then that leaves you, Clair," he said, stepping in front of his best friend. He placed his hands on her shoulders before speaking, "What's there to say? I wish you could come along, but I know the Elders want you here for a little longer. When they let you leave, don't be afraid to give me a call."

Clair still didn't look up, but nodded anyway.

"Well, if you can stop smashing your cell phones first."

That did it. She looked up at Jacob and laughed. "I'll get a new phone and call you, okay?"

Jacob rubbed her arms, "Good. Oh, and I left my Pokemon in your house. Please take care of them." When she nodded, he smiled and placed a hand on her cheek.

"Jacob," Jasmine started, "It takes an hour to get to Olivine, and the ferry leaves in an hour and a half. We should go now."

He looked from Jasmine and back to Clair, pulled her in a quick hug, and turned away. Jacob jumped on Flygon's back and settled his legs on the joint of the dragon's wings. He looked back at his friends and paused when he made eye contact with Clair. He smiled and waved and, when he saw Jasmine and Skarmory take off, had Flygon fly off as well.

"Wait!" Clair yelled, but a second too late. They were already out of earshot. "I didn't get to-" She looked up determined, and pulled out a pokeball from her belt.

* * *

Nothing beat the feeling of flying on the back of a Pokemon. Jacob couldn't help but smile as he lowered the sunglasses over his eyes, felt the wind in his face and watched the world speed under him. In fifteen minutes, he and Jasmine were above Mahogany Town, with a great view of the Lake of Rage, shimmering in the sunlight. In the distance, they could see the Sprout and Bell Towers that signaled Ecruteak City in the near future.

The closer they got to Ecruteak, the closer they were to Olivine, which meant the start of Jacob's next adventure. The more he thought about this, the more anxious he was. His heart raced just a little faster as they passed over Mount Mortar.

They passed the Bell Tower, where the legendary Ho-Oh was said to reveal itself to trainers who had proven their worth. Some people spread rumors that trainers who see Ho-Oh on the first day of their journey are destined to become legendary trainers. Jacob smiled and thought back to the first day of his journey. He didn't see Ho-Oh, but it was still the best day of his life. Now, it was like that day all over again, the start of a new journey.

It took thirty minutes from Ecruteak to get to the Miltank farm, and another five to finally see the ocean in the distance. Jacob raised his sunglasses to get a better view of the ocean, and spotted the ferry that he would be on in just a few minutes. It was massive, maybe even larger than the St. Anne, the ill-fated cruise liner that sank when it sailed into a powerful storm.

The two trainers had their Pokemon descend as they neared the Olivine City Gym, until they both touched the ground. Jacob and Jasmine jumped off of their rides and returned them to their pokeballs, giving them a rest. They then looked at each other.

"Jasmine, I couldn't thank you enough for everything you did to help me out."

She hugged him, "You know I don't mind. I'm just glad I could see you off! I just wish we could have had another battle. I'm sure my Steel Pokemon can beat your Garchomp, now!"

They shared a laugh before Jacob said, "I guess we'll have to wait on that one."

"I guess so," Jasmine sighed. "Well, you should hurry. You don't want to miss the ferry!"

Jacob glanced back and nodded. "You're right. Thanks again, for everything. I'll give you a call sometime!"

"That would be nice," Jasmine said, smiling.

Jacob turned around and waved while running toward the harbor, "I'll see you later!" Jasmine stood and waved until Jacob turned back.

After finally getting past the crowds of people who were desperately trying to buy the remaining tickets for the ferry, named the S.S. Sinfonia, Jacob had finally arrived at the bridge connecting the dock to the cruise liner. To his right was a man at a small table with an umbrella over it.

"Ticket, please," the man said in a rough voice.

Jacob fumbled around his pockets and found the ticket he had checked three times before he left Blackthorn that he had. The man snatched up the ticket, looked at it to ensure its authenticity, tore it in half, and handed it back.

"Have a nice trip. Now, hurry and get on the boat. Next!" The man waved Jacob toward the cruise liner. Jacob was too excited to care about the man's rudeness. He looked up at the impressive ship and took a step onto the wooden bridge.

"Jacob! Wait!"

Jacob stopped in his tracks when he heard the familiar voice behind him. He turned around to see Clair running to him. In her rush, she didn't even return her Dragonite, who was standing and looking around curiously. After the initial shock, Jacob couldn't help but beam, and he ran off the bridge and embraced Clair tightly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her when they finally stopped hugging. Jacob noticed that her face was as pink as a Luvdisc.

"I... I forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Well, I-" She was cut off by the sound of the ship's horn, signaling that they were mere minutes from departure. "Forget it, you need to leave."

"Ignore them. I won't be late. What is it?"

Clair looked Jacob in the eyes, "I don't think I tell you enough that you're my best friend, too."

A smile flickered on Jacob's face, "Don't worry. It's just how you work. I know I am."

"Okay. Well, I just wanted to say that," Clair said.

Jacob knew she was hiding something, "Really? You flew an hour to follow us, only to tell me something I already-"

He had full intention of finishing that sentence, if Clair didn't stop him by pressing her lips against his. After what felt like an hour of surprise, Jacob placed his hands around her back and held her until she pulled her head back. Clair pulled him close and hugged him again, with her head on his chest, to hide the fact that she was blushing. He was too.

"You don't know how long you will be gone, do you?" She softly asked.

"I have no idea," Jacob said calmly.

There was silence as the last of the people boarded the boat. Jacob knew he had to get on soon, but he found one reason for hesitation.

"I know what you're thinking, now. You're not sure if you want to leave, but, you have to. Don't let me keep you from your dream." Clair squeezed Jacob a little tighter, before finally letting go.

"So, what was that?" Jacob asked, meaning what had happened only a few seconds ago.

Clair, still blushing, had tears in her eyes. She wiped them away before looking at Jacob for the last time in a long time, "It was me saying goodbye."

Jacob nodded, understanding that it could possibly be another year before they saw each other again. "Ok," he said.

"All Aboard!" The captain called over the loudspeaker, and Jacob looked around to learn he would be the last person to enter the ship.

"Right," Clair said, "You need to get on that ship now."

Nodding again, Jacob smiled, "I'll see you later, then."

Clair returned the smile, and hugged her best friend one more time. "Have a great adventure."

Jacob turned and ran, passing the ticket man who was packing his things, and up the long, wooden bridge. When he stepped onto the boat, he turned around to see Clair, sitting on her Dragonite, waving. He smiled and returned the wave, before the guides led him inside the boat and closed the doors.

He was still facing the door when a female guide came up to him, "Excuse me, I can help you find your room, if you'd like."

Jacob spun around to look at the woman in a pink stewardess uniform. He then looked around at the main lobby. It wasn't as decorated as some boats he'd seen, but it was still nice. There were black carpets on the floor, which contrasted the white walls. Above them was an impressive chandelier that hung halfway from the ceiling to the ground.

The woman coughed to bring Jacob's attention back to her. "That would be great," he said, fumbling around for the half-ticket in his pocket once more. He held it out for the woman, who took it in a much nicer manner than the ticket man, and was led away from the doors as the ship began to move.

"How long should this trip take?" Jacob asked.

"Not long. When there's good weather and we can travel faster, it takes about two days. Otherwise, it would take around three."

"Oh, good," Jacob said, and followed the guide in silence. She led him up a flight of stairs, and down two hallways until they stopped at room number 234 B.

"Here is your room," she said, and swiped a card on a reader beside the doorknob. There was a beep, and she opened the door. "This card is now programmed to your room. Do your best not to lose it." She handed him the card before walking away to help another person to their room.

Jacob looked at the card while he opened the door to the room with his foot. When he looked up he took in the rectangular room's appearance. It had the same black carpet and white wall scheme as the lobby, but a fluorescent light on the ceiling instead of a chandelier. There was a twin sized bed against one wall of the room, a large television mounted on the wall across from the bed, and a table on the other end of the room beside a window that took up a quarter of the wall.

"Cozy," Jacob said to himself as he dropped his backpack on the floor beside the bed. He took off his pokeball belt, and placed it on the table, looking out the window. Jacob found it hard to believe that it was still morning. He looked down at his belt and removed the pokeballs, one by one.

He looked at the first one, "Well, Weavile, we're finally starting a new adventure." He opened the ball to release for the first time that day the first Pokemon he ever owned. The Sharp Claw Pokemon crossed his arms, angry that he had been cooped up in a pokeball all day.

"Hey!" Jacob defended himself, "We're here now! Cheer up. You don't need to hide anymore, the Dragon Den is nowhere in sight."

Weavile shrugged and jumped up on the bed, stretching.

Jacob looked back at his belt and pulled off a second pokeball. "Flygon, I have a feeling this is going to be a great adventure for you. I know you'll do well in the Cherto Region. Trust me."

He placed Flygon's pokeball back on the belt, giving him some time to rest. He lifted a third pokeball from the belt and stared at it for a minute. "I guess I just couldn't bring myself to leave you behind, Typhlosion. You're stuck with me."

Jacob smiled and placed that pokeball on the belt as well. As he did so, he looked out the window and saw something he never expected. Just below the sun, a rainbow began to form. Jacob squinted his eyes and could barely make out a large, golden bird Pokemon that seemed to lead the rainbow north.

"No way," Jacob muttered. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but it was gone. All that was left was the rainbow below the sun. It looked as if the rainbow was the horizon and the sun was just rising again; dawn from a rainbow horizon.

_I guess that settles it,_ Jacob thought to himself, while falling onto the incredibly comfortable bed and closing his eyes. _This is going to be an amazing adventure.

* * *

_**A/N: I hope you liked this episode! Jacob finally left Blackthorn! Woah! Anyway... OC Credits: Avery Wilson was made by PhantoMNiGHT321. Note to Phantom: Sorry... It was just how I saw the battle going. So my next episode... hasn't been named yet, it's a surprise! But it will introduce at least one more OC. *Cough cough* Frozen *cough cough.* Until then, See ya! **


	5. Episode 4: A Not So Pleasant Cruise

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay in this post, I had some trouble figuring out what to do in this chapter, but I pulled it off and I think it's pretty good. A few things I want to say before I get to my review responses. First: If you haven't read The Championship Match, go to my profile and do so. There are a few aspects of that fic that are brought up in this episode, as well as in the future. So it'd be a good idea to do so. Next: This fic is a combination of Anime-verse and Game-verse, so expect to see characters from both appear over time. And no, as of now I do not intend for counterparts to meet, so no Ash vs Red here. Sorry. Now, for the responses. **

**Yuki-Jodai123: As I said, I intend to use everyone's OCs at some point. The rest of your questions... I'd like to keep those answers as a surprise. **

**Frozen Seagull: I'm happy you're still liking it! I hope you like how I did your OC in this Chapter.  
**

**PhantoMNiGHT321: Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the battle regardless. And I hope you liked how I worked with Avery, it was tricky at times. Don't worry, he may come back! **

**ShadowNinja333: Thanks! I just hope I can deliver well with all of these OCs! Keep reading!**

**Golden-Owl: I have several responses. To your statement that he is overpowered: That's kind of the idea. He wouldn't be much of a "Prodigy" if he wasn't an amazing trainer with incredibly strong Pokemon. I'm sorry you see Jacob as flat, and if anyone agrees with Golden, feel free to mention it and offer suggestions. I do my best when writing this. As for the quesiton about the region: I'm NOT inventing Pokemon. The Cherto Region will have Pokemon from everywhere, so any Pokemon is possible with the exception of some legendaries, but no OC (mine or submitted) will own them, got it people?**

**Sorry for the long author's note, as well as the wait. I hope you like this chapter. And copyrights... well... you know them.

* * *

**"Watch it, dumbass!"

"Woah," Jacob raised his voice and hands in protest, "You're the one who walked right into me. I just walked out my door and BOOM," he clapped his hands together, "there you were."

"Yeah yeah," the girl remarked, as she pushed her short black hair out of her face. "Keep telling yourself that it's MY fault."

"Maybe," Jacob paused, "because it is!"

"Whatever. Why don't you learn to take the blame!"

"For what?" The volume of the argument had started to attract attention. "For minding my own business when someone decides to walk right into me?"

"For being in my way!"

Jacob rolled his eyes in disgust, "Oh, I'm sorry for intentionally walking out of my door at the exact moment you were walking past."

The girl nearly growled as a fire ignited in her gray eyes, "Don't get sarcastic with me, boy." She lowered her head, allowing some hair to fall into her face again, and glared through the strands "'Boy?'" Jacob repeated. He could hardly believe what he had just heard. "You can't be older than sixteen, g_irl_."

"Seventeen," she corrected, straightening her posture, still with a low tone in her voice. "But not for long," She added hastily.

"You might want to wait a couple of years before speaking down to people," Jacob shook his head and turned away.

"DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!" The girl shouted, turning all of the heads that weren't already watching them. She ran beside Jacob, and, in one quick motion, shoved him into a wall, thrust her palm on his chest, and raised her other into a curled fist.

Jacob almost laughed, "Wow, you're fast."

"Shut up," She said, coldly. She stood only a few inches shorter than Jacob, but her glare made up for the height difference.

Smile fading, Jacob quietly responded, "Is this any way to settle things?"

The girl continued her glare, heaving angered breaths. After a minute, she loosened her grip and lowered her arm. "Just," she started, still fuming, "stay out of my way." She turned and walked away, both hands clenched. People ahead of her speedily shuffled out of her path as she neared, and she disappeared from Jacob's view behind the crowd. They all looked at Jacob before dispersing.

Jacob exhaled, shook his head and turned away. "Well, that was interest-WOAH!" Something had caught his feet, and caused him to fall to the floor, face first.

"SHEEE," something squealed beneath his feet.

"Ow," Jacob muttered, while turning around onto his back. He lay on the floor for a moment, and rubbed his throbbing forehead.

"Shinx?" a high pitched sound came from Jacob's right. When he looked he was greeted with large yellow eyes. The Pokemon that owned these eyes was light blue in the upper body and forelimbs, and black in the lower body and rear limbs and tail. The tip of its tail had a yellow, four pointed star on it. Its ears were around half the size of its head.

Jacob cocked his head, "Did you trip me?" The Pokemon responded by cocking its own head to mirror the person looking at it. Jacob chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes." He looked around for anyone who might be missing a Pokemon, but didn't see anything. Turning back to the Pokemon, he opened his arms to see if it would come to him. It did. He picked it up, standing himself up as well.

"Well, I doubt you're wild, so let's fix you up and see if we can find your trainer, huh?" He asked the Pokemon. When it gave a playful squeal, Jacob nodded and headed back to his room. He opened the door, rubbed his forehead and looked back to where the girl had walked off. "To think, this boat left only a few hours ago, and I already have an enemy."

**The Blackthorn Prodigy:**

**Episode 4: A Not-So-Pleasant Cruise**

Jacob always hated crowds. There were too many eyes that could easily catch anything that seemed odd, and a guy sitting at a bench with a Shinx on his lap and a Weavile beside him wasn't the most common sight. Re-entering his room several minutes prior had awakened Weavile from his nap, and the Sharp Claw Pokemon insisted on exploring the ship. The Pokemon, now, was somewhat bothered at the fact that his trainer continued to sit in one place, contrary to his normal behavior.

Jacob figured it would be best to stay put, because it would be better than two people running in circles and never finding each other. That in mind, he chose the main lobby of the ship as a decent place to wait. However, sitting in an area full of people always made him edgy. He felt that if he spent too much time in a crowd, there would always be someone to walk up to him and say-

"Hey! Aren't you that guy?"

Jacob sighed; here was that someone. The man who had approached him was fairly large with light brown hair that only covered half his forehead. He wore an orange Hawaiian shirt with white palm tree prints, a white tee underneath, and khaki shorts that had too many pockets. Jacob knew from first glance that this man was no trainer; he was a tourist.

"You _are_ that guy, aren't you?" he said.

"What guy?" Jacob asked.

"The guy from the Silver Conference a few years ago."

Jacob shrugged, "Sure, I competed three years ago, but so did sixty-three other people."

The man chuckled and shook his head, "No, you are the guy that was challenged by the Champion, even though you came in second."

"That's me. What about it?" Jacob didn't like where this was going.

"I was at that tournament. I remember the battles very well."

"That's nice." This was among the last things Jacob had expected, or even wanted, to talk about. "What are you getting at?"

"I think you blew your last two matches. The final round _and_ your battle with the Champion," he said without hesitation.

Jacob didn't even flinch at the accusation. He stared forward, not even looking at the man, in silence. When the man gave no sign of leaving without a response, Jacob decided to give him one. Without making eye contact, he said, "Well, that was the last thing I expected to hear on this ship. Why do you think that?"

"Because," the large man started, "the person you battled in the last round would have lost against you, but your Garchomp's Giga Impact missed, which left your Pokemon wide open for attack. It's easy to plan to miss an attack, especially one that leaves a Pokemon vulnerable. Then, the person who beat you barely stood a chance against Will, who was the first of the Elite Four, where you managed to make it to the last Pokemon of Lance, the Johto Champion."

"Is that-"

"Finally," the man interrupted, much to Jacob's dismay, "When you both were down to your last Pokemon, and it looked like you had Dragonite one Ice Punch away from defeat, you chose Metal Claw, which Dragonite countered with Dragon Rush and-"

"I don't need a play-by-play," Jacob cut in, fed up with this man's allegation, "I know what happened." He picked up the Shinx by its underside and stood up, and Weavile jumped down from the bench. For the first time, Jacob looked at the man's dark brown eyes. "Believe what you want; I know what happened."

He chuckled again, "Soon enough, I will too." He seemed to have undergone a complete transformation from friendly tourist to someone much more menacing.

Jacob raised his voice, "What does it matter to you? Who are you anyway?"

"Me?" The man pointed to himself, as if Jacob were talking to a group instead of just one person. "My name is Chuck Kingsman. I'm a Pokemon Battle Analyst. I write for _The TM: The Trainer's Manual_. I'm sure you heard of it."

Jacob glared, "I'm familiar with the magazine."

"Well, I've been watching battles for quite a long time, so I can tell when someone throws in the towel too early."

"What do you want?" Jacob wanted to get away from this man as soon as possible.

Chuck smiled evilly, "I want to see you in a real battle."

"What?"

"There is a special Trainer aboard this ship. He was the Champion of the Kanto Region for a short time, and a gym leader for much longer."

"Who?"

"His name is Blue Oak. He was the leader of the-"

"The Viridian Gym," Jacob jumped in, again. "I've heard of him."

"Good for you. He is probably the most skilled Trainer on this ship, and I want to see if you can beat him."

Jacob was still glaring; he really didn't like this journalist in front of him. "Why do you want to see that?"

"Because, if you win, then you'll prove that you really are Champion material. Wouldn't you like that?"

"What about if I lose? I know you have a reason for that."

The man chuckled yet again, "Smart boy. I guess if you lose, you'll have proven you _didn't_ blow those matches in the Silver Conference. Just try not to blow this one, because I'll be watching." He turned around and walked away without another word.

"I didn't blow the match!" Jacob shouted, but didn't seem to be noticed by the man. He grunted and mulled his options over.

"Wea?" Jacob's Pokemon made his presence known as he looked up at his trainer.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. Now that I know Blue is here I think I want to battle him, but win or lose, I'm screwed." He looked at his Pokemon, then to the Shinx in his arms. It looked up and licked his face. "Well, I'm sure a battle would draw attention. Maybe we can find your owner in the process."

He nodded as he figured it was as good an idea as any, and started the walk back to his room to pick up his other two Pokemon. "To think, when I got on this boat I thought I would have a good day... And why does everyone call me 'boy?'"

* * *

Jacob sighed as he and Weavile exited the crowd, with Shinx in his arms. He looked around and watched, as many people conversed with their traveling companions while others, who were probably going alone, either introduced themselves to as many people as possible or wandered in silence.

It made Jacob think of the year he had spent in Hoenn. Most of the time he was alone, with only his Weavile and the rest of his Pokemon. He occasionally met other trainers, and would travel with them if they were going the same way. He even helped out people in need whenever he came across them. However, these encounters were few and far apart, and when he left to go to the tournament held at the Battle Dome, he had nobody to say goodbye to.

It wasn't that he liked traveling alone. In fact, he enjoyed company as long as whoever it was didn't drive him insane. He had met a few people like that in Hoenn, and got away from them as soon as he could.

"Shee?" The Pokemon in Jacob's arms spoke, bringing Jacob back to reality.

"What is it?" he asked. He was beginning to wonder how they hadn't found this Pokemon's trainer yet, or if the trainer was even looking.

"Shiiiinx," it said, while wiggling in Jacob's arms. It obviously wanted to walk for itself.

Jacob squeezed a little tighter to keep hold, "I don't want to put you down so you can run off like you probably did to your trainer. Wait until – OW" Jacob flung his arms out in pain and accidentally dropped the Pokemon. "You did NOT just use Spark on me!" he half-shouted. The Pokemon playfully cried and ran forward down a hallway.

"Weavile, you're faster than me, go get him!" Jacob ordered, and followed his Pokemon. For such a small Pokemon, the Shinx was very fast, but Weavile was still faster. As Jacob chased, the Dark Type was gaining on the Electric Type. When he was close to grabbing the young Pokemon, Shinx turned a corner at the last second. Quick on his feet, Weavile turned the corner as well and disappeared from view. Sprinting, Jacob also turned the corner a few seconds later, and immediately tripped over something, falling to the ground again.

Jacob decided to take several seconds to lay on the floor this time, not wanting to get up to fall again later on. "Not the best of days," he told himself, his face still pressed against the carpet.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Jacob heard a nervous voice above him. It was a girl's voice.

Jacob turned over to see a girl with *long, unevenly cut dark brown hair, with navy blue eyes encircled by heavy black eye-makeup and numerous ear piercings. She wore a deep blue t-shirt that had a print of Sharpedo jaws, tight black short-overalls covered by a short black leather jacket, and black military boots to top it all off.* In her arms was Shinx, who seemed to be cheerful and comfortable. Weavile was standing beside her with his arms crossed.

"Peachy," Jacob said, sitting up on the floor. He looked over the Pokemon's trainer and noticed a bruise on her leg. "It wasn't you I fell over, was it?" he asked, somewhat worriedly.

She looked down at the bruise, and back up, smiling, "Don't worry, it's just a bump." Despite her rough, outward appearance, her smile was very reassuring. "What were you doing running around like that, anyway?"

Jacob scoffed while standing, "I was chasing _that_ Pokemon because he shocked me after I've been taking care of him all day while looking for you." He looked at the Shinx in her arms, who looked back with what could be considered a smile on its face.

The girl's eyes widened as she looked from Jacob to her Pokemon and back, "You found my Shinx and took care of him?" She almost sounded surprised.

"More like he found me, but I figured he wasn't wild," Jacob said.

Her kind smile changed to a wide grin, "I'm glad for that. Thank you so much for taking care of him. And I'm sorry he shocked you. He only hatched a month ago and he's a little too brave for his own good."

"I noticed," Jacob said, laughing, "How did he get away from you, anyway?"

The girl looked at her Shinx, still in her arms, "Well, we were walking around to explore the boat when we find this crowd of people. When I asked what was going on, someone told me that some guy and girl were arguing loudly, and then she shoved him against a wall."

Jacob tried his best to look as normal as possible, "That's weird."

"I'm sure he deserved it," she said. Jacob gulped. "Anyway, Shinx must have tried to get a closer look because when I left to find a different way around, he wasn't there. I feel like I looked everywhere for him." She hugged her Pokemon tightly, obviously happy for his return.

"Well, I'm happy I helped, and I'm sorry for running you over," Jacob laughed and turned away, with Weavile following. He still had to get his Pokemon from his room if he wanted to challenge Blue.

"Hey!" she called out. Jacob turned around to show she had his attention. "My name is Raine."

Jacob smiled, "Nice to meet you. I'm Jacob."

"It's nice to meet you too," she said, giving the same reassuring smile.

* * *

The S.S. Sinfonia had it all. It had a giant indoor pool, a grand ball room, a food court, a running track, and, most importantly for many aboard, a Pokemon battlefield. It looked more like a stadium, though, with bleachers surrounding the field, and entrances at opposite ends. The walls rose nearly fifty feet high, and there were giant fluorescent lights embedded in the flat ceiling.

The stands were scattered with people as Jacob walked through the double doors, after spending an hour or two in his room preparing for the battle ahead.. He figured if he was going to find Blue, this would be the place to find him eventually. However, the two people battling were definitely not Blue.

Jacob chose a seat near the entrance, and Weavile leaned its back on the seat beside his trainer. The two stared at the battle in front of them, which, actually, was not a bad match. The trainer nearest Jacob, who's back was facing them, was a somewhat tall black haired girl. Her Pokemon, Jacob recognized as a Farfetch'd, was brown on its back, head and wings, and a lighter shade on its underside. It had a long bill and webbed toes, as well as a V-shaped black plumage above its eyes. It was holding some sort of plant stalk in its mouth.

The Wild Duck Pokemon seemed to be faring quite well against its opponent, a Pokemon Jacob didn't recognize. The Pokemon looked a little like a Bagon, but it was gray on its arms, legs, belly and most of its head, except for the top of its head, where it was blue. Spikes circled the blue part of its head, which seemed to reflect light. The Pokemon's back and tail was also blue, and it had short arms and long legs.

"Cran!" it cried, as its trainer ordered a Headbutt. It ran with its head low at the Farfetch'd, but the Flying Type simply flew in the air, and out of reach of the dinosaur-looking Pokemon. The trainer then called out for his Pokemon to use Head Smash. The Pokemon crouched low to the ground, and jumped high, with its body glowing a whitish blue. When it started falling, it aimed its head at the Farfetch'd in the air.

Surprisingly, the trainer of the Farfetch'd ordered a Leaf Blade attack, with a voice that seemed oddly familiar to Jacob. The plant stalk in the Flying Type's mouth glowed a dark green and extended to nearly four times its length, to the shape of a long blade. As the other Pokemon drew nearer, the Farfetch'd spun in the air, and slammed the blade into it's opponent's head.

The dinosaur Pokemon flew straight up in the air and, after a moment's pause at the peak of its launch, began to fall back down. Farfetch'd dove to the floor, opened its wings, and placed its feet on the floor quite gracefully. The same couldn't be said for the landing of the other Pokemon, who slammed into the rocky terrain that made up the floor quite loudly.

The referee on the side of the field held up an arm, "Cranidos is unable to battle, the winner is Farfetch'd. The victor is Sable Mirst!" Jacob, as well as the scattered people in the stadium clapped for the winner, as the loser of the match recalled his Pokemon and walked away. The girl returned her Farfetch'd, her back still to Jacob, and waved to the people cheering.

When she turned around, it was then that Jacob recognized her as the girl who almost picked a fight with him earlier. Jacob was the only person in the section he was sitting in, so there was no way to avoid being seen by the girl. When they made eye contact, her smile faded, she stopped waving, and she walked off to sit with a blond haired boy at the front row.

The referee walked to the center of the field and called out, "Are there any more challenges?" He waited patiently for any sort of response, but didn't get one. Jacob half expected the girl named Sable to challenge him, but a voice to his right beat her to it.

"I'd like to make a challenge!" Jacob turned to see a teenager, who looked to be around his age, with spiky brown hair. He wore a very dark gray jacket, close to black, with a white polo underneath, its collar sticking out over the jacket. His khaki pants were held up by a dark brown belt with a large, silver belt buckle, and he wore dark gray boots that matched his jacket.

Beside him was the last person Jacob wanted to see, the large man from earlier, Chuck Kingsman. He was looking at Jacob with a large smile on his face. The referee, who looked like he was younger than Jacob, ran up to the two and took a second look at the person who spoke. "Aren't you former Kanto Champion, Blue?" he asked, almost in awe. Jacob moved to a closer seat to listen in.

Blue chuckled and said, "Wouldn't have been 'former' if Red didn't beat me soon after I became Champ."

"Wow," the referee said, completely forgetting that Blue was about to make a challenge. "I'm honored to meet you. What are you doing in the Cherto Region?"

Blue smirked, "I heard a rumor that Red took a boat there a few weeks ago, so I decided to see what has interested the 'best trainer in the Pokemon World.'" He held up two fingers on each hand and bent them as he said the last six words.

"Really? That is impressive," the referee trailed off.

"I know," Blue said. He didn't seem to enjoy talking about his rival much, and immediately changed the subject, "So, my challenge?"

"Right!" the young referee said. He then looked at Chuck, "Is this the man you are challenging?"

Chuck held up two hands in defense, "Oh, no. I'm no trainer." He then pointed at Jacob, "He is."

Jacob stood upon being singled out, as the three people looked at him. Blue looked at Chuck and said, "This is the guy that _almost_ beat Lance?" Chuck nodded as Jacob stepped down from the stands. Blue turned to Jacob, "Well, do you wanna battle, or are you afraid to lose to me?"

"Fine," Jacob said, "Let's battle." He honestly didn't want to battle Blue, not under these circumstances, at least.

"Good, be ready to lose!" Blue said, and walked to one side of the field with his head held high.

Jacob stood motionless, glaring at the large man left in front of him, "How'd you know I was here?"

Chuck smiled, "I saw you walk in. All it took was a quick call to Blue, told him who you were and had him come down." The journalist stepped into the stands and took a seat at an edge row, motioning for Jacob to take his position on the battlefield.

With Weavile beside him, Jacob grunted and turned around, walking to his own spot on the battlefield opposite Blue.

"What kind of battle would you like?" The young referee asked the two trainers as Jacob took his place.

"Three-on-three," Blue said, without even asking Jacob for his opinion. Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that was all of the Pokemon he had with him anyway. The referee nodded as Blue threw a pokeball. "Go, Arcanine!"

A large dog Pokemon emerged from Blue's Pokeball. It was primarily orange, with black stripes along its body. It had a crème colored mane and tail, and similar colored patches on its chest and legs. It stood straight, even taller than Jacob or Blue, and growled menacingly.

"Flygon, you're up!" Jacob called out, releasing his dragon from its pokeball.

The referee raised his arms, and lowered them, shouting, "Begin!"

"Arcanine, Extremespeed!" Blue ordered, not hesitating to start the battle. In the blink of an eye, Arcanine had charged and rammed into Flygon headfirst. "Now, Crunch!" The dog Pokemon bit down hard on Flygon's neck, causing the Dragon Type severe pain.

"Flygon, get him off with Dragon Claw!" The Mystic Pokemon's claws shone as it slashed at Arcanine. The attack smashed into the Legendary Pokemon's side, forcing it to let go and fall to the ground.

"Quick, Arcanine, use Flamethrower!"

"Dragonbreath!"

The two Pokemon expelled flames from their mouth, Arcanine's red and Flygon's blue. The two attacks collided and exploded on impact, sending the two in opposite directions. Flygon opened its wings and took to the air, while Arcanine thrust its paws to the ground and slid to a stop.

"Don't think that your Pokemon is out of reach from mine!" Blue said, proudly. "Arcanine, use Flare Blitz!"

Blue's Pokemon lowered its body and prepared to charge as it became engulfed in flames. It ran towards the airborne Flygon and jumped, with the flames spiraling around it.

This was exactly what Jacob was waiting for, though. "Flygon, dodge the attack, then respond with Dragon Claw!"

When Arcanine was close enough, Flygon swerved away from the attack, and slashed at Blue's Pokemon again with Dragon Claw, and sent the Pokemon straight to the ground.

"Now," Jacob said, "Earthquake!"

Flygon ascended a little before diving back to the ground, smashing onto the floor beside Arcanine. The shockwave from the impact sent Arcanine flying back to his own side. When it landed on the ground, the Pokemon didn't get up.

"Arcanine is unable to battle, the victor is Flygon."

Blue returned his Pokemon, and looked up at Jacob, "You won that one because of a type advantage. You won't be so lucky with Pidgeot!" He threw another pokeball to reveal the Bird Pokemon, who remained in flight upon release. "Use Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeot wasted no time and pumped its wings, speeding to Flygon and slamming into Jacob's Pokemon with its wings.

"Flygon, Dragon Claw!"

"Steel Wing!" Blue responded.

Flygon's claws and Pidgeot's wings both glowed, and the two slashed at each other in the air. However, Pidgeot's wingspan proved advantageous as Flygon couldn't reach, and was smashed by the Bird Pokemon's attack.

The attack hit Flygon so hard that the dragon started towards fall to the ground. However, it quickly opened its wings and regained flight.

"Air Slash!" Blue shouted.

"Dragonbreath!"

Pidgeot's wings shone blue as it flapped its wings, causing the blue light to slice through the air like claws at Flygon. The dragon responded by sending blue flames at the attack, but the Air Slash merely sliced through Dragonbreath, and made contact square into Flygon's chest. It was such a strong attack that it propelled the Dragon Type down to the ground.

"Finish with Brave Bird!" Blue called out to his Pokemon. Pidgeot seemed to shine with a blue aura as it charged its power.

"Draco Meteor!" Jacob yelled. Flygon opened its mouth and, from it, charged an orange sphere of energy that grew to nearly six feet in diameter.

"Now!"

"Now!"

The two trainers shouted at the same time. As Pidgeot dove at full speed, Flygon launched its attack, not into the air as usual, but at the incoming Pokemon. Pidgeot was diving too fast to avoid it and lose momentum, and the attack engulfed the Bird Pokemon.

Jacob cheered at Flygon's success, but Blue simply smiled. Jacob learned why as Pidgeot emerged from the Draco Meteor, seemingly unphased and still on collision course with Flygon.

"Screech!" Jacob shouted, knowing Pidgeot was too fast for Flygon to dodge. His dragon opened its mouth and gave off an incredibly high pitched noise, that made everyone who was in the room cover their ears. It was so high even Pidgeot shivered, but it didn't falter the Bird Pokemon as it continued its path.

Pidgeot slammed its whole body into Flygon shortly after, and sent the Mystic Pokemon into a wall and on the ground. The Bird Pokemon then maneuvered around the field, over the stands, and landed beside Blue. Flygon didn't move from its place on the ground.

"Flygon is unable to battle. Pidgeot is the victor."

Jacob returned Flygon as Blue sneered, "Don't be so quick to think you're winning. My Pidgeot alone can take down your team."

Chuckling, Jacob shook his head, "Are you sure about that? Your Pidgeot doesn't seem agree."

"What do you-" Blue started, and looked at his Pidgeot. The Bird Pokemon suddenly fell to the ground, suffering intense recoil damage from it's Brave Bird.

"I just love Flygon's Screech attack. It works well with powerful attacks like Earthquake, but it also helps to lower your Pidgeot's defense enough to take itself down with its own attack." Jacob smiled.

"Smart," Blue said, recalling his Pidgeot. "I'm impressed that you're not a gym leader."

Jacob shrugged, "So are a lot of people, apparently." He turned around and shot a glance at the man who had caused him all of the trouble. Chuck was smiling evilly, as usual.

"Well, if you were a gym leader, you still wouldn't be in a gym good enough to beat me!" He pulled out a third pokeball and said, "Now, face my third and newest Pokemon!"

Blue Oak threw the pokeball in the air and revealed a rather large, monstrous Pokemon. It was black for most of its body, but had gray steel rings that encircled its knees and elbows, as well as steel plates on its head. It had three metal horns, one that extended forward like an oversized nose, and two that reached up from what would be its forhead. It had three claws on its hands and feet, and had a large black tail that seemed to double the length of its body. It gave a loud roar and stomped on the ground.

"Heh heh heh... You're unprepared for this," Blue said. "My Aggron will knock you down!"

Jacob pulled out another Pokeball, "Good luck. Go, Typhlosion!" Upon release, Jacob's Fire-Type crouched low on all fours and growled at the Steel-Type in front of him. "Start off with Flamethrower!"

"Head Smash through the attack!" Blue yelled, and, to Jacob's surprise, Aggron rammed his head into Typhlosion's Flamethrower, splitting the flames and sending them in opposite directions. "I think you forgot about Aggron's Rock Type. Fire isn't as hot against him!"

"Well, I can still do some damage, Flame Wheel!" Typhlosion's fiery mane expanded and surrounded the Volcano Pokemon as it charged at the Iron Armor Pokemon.

"Again, Head Smash!"

Aggron lowered its steel-plated head and waited for Typhlosion to near. When Jacob's Pokemon did, the Steel Type pulled its head back slightly, then thrust it forward to slam into Typhlosion's own head. The fire that engulfed Typhlosion vanished almost immediately, and the Volcano Pokemon fell to the ground in front of Aggron. He quickly got up, though, and ran back to his own side, panting.

"Finish this with Stone Edge," Blue said, almost with pity. Aggron stomped the ground and sent jagged stones into the air. The fierce Pokemon thrust its arms forward, sending the stones at Typhlosion.

"I'm starting to hate that move. Typhlosion, dodge the attack and use Flamethrower!" Jacob's Pokemon jumped to the side at the last second, allowing the stones to pass, and launched a beam of fire at its opponent. The blast hit Aggron in the stomach, and the Iron Armor Pokemon crouched down in pain. "Again, Flamethrower!"

Typhlosion jumped forward and unleashed another blast of flames at Aggron. The attack completely enveloped the Steel/Rock-Type, who fell to all fours.

"Aggron, use Stone Edge!" Blue yelled, despite the condition his Pokemon was in. To everyone's surprise, Aggron stood up, still on fire. The Pokemon spread its arms and roared, shattering the flames around it. Again, it stomped the ground, and sent sharpened stones at Typhlosion.

"Same thing, dodge and use Flamethrower!"

For the second time, Typhlosion jumped to the side, avoiding the powerful attack and sending its own attack back.

"Now!" Blue shouted. Moments before Typhlosion's attack hit, Aggron's eyes glowed blue and it held its arms out. Suddenly, it jolted them at Typhlosion as the stones that had been avoided changed course and smashed into the Fire-Type's side. The Pokemon was launched several feet into the air and landed hard on the ground. Aggron still had enough time to deflect Flamethrower with another Head Smash.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle, Aggron is the victor!"

Jacob sighed as he recalled Typhlosion. He looked around and realized a lot more people had come to the stadium. The stands were nearly half full with people who came to see the famous Blue Oak battle. His eyes paused briefly on the girl he had argued with earlier in the day, who was talking to the boy beside her. A motion several rows to the right caught Jacob's attention, and he saw Raine, the girl who owned the Shinx.. She had waved to him, and smiled when he looked over. Jacob gave her a nod before looking back toward Blue.

"Well, this should be interesting," Jacob said. He looked at his Weavile beside him, and motioned his head to the battlefield.

"Wea!" his Pokemon said, and ran out to the field.

"That's your last Pokemon?" Blue laughed, "A Pokemon that is weak to both Steel _and_ Rock? This will be easy! Aggron, use Stone Edge!"

"Not as easy as you think, Blue. Weavile, use Night Slash!"

Weavile disappeared as the stones simply flew through the space once occupied by a Pokemon. The Dark-Type reappeared above Aggron's head and slashed at the giant Pokemon, but the attack seemed to do nothing but scratch the surface of the Steel-Type's metal head.

"Iron Tail!" Blue ordered. Aggron's tail shown a metallic white as the Pokemon spun around, aiming its hulking tail at the airborne Weavile.

"Metal Claw to defend!"

Weavile's claws shone the same color as Aggron's tail, and he slashed at the incoming attack, causing the two to collide with a loud screeching sound. Weavile pressed down on the tail, and thrust himself off, backflipping away from the attack and landing on the ground, claws forward and ready for more.

"Weavile, try an Ice Punch!"

The Sharp Claw Pokemon's hand shown light blue, and it jumped up and slammed its glowing fist into Aggron's head, but that attack seemed to do nothing as well.

Blue laughed, "Face it, you can't win this one! Aggron, Stone Edge, and don't stop until you get a hit!"

Aggron's eyes glowed blue again, and summoned its sharpened stones once more. The Iron Head Pokemon thrust its arms out, sending the stones at Weavile.

"Dodge and use Metal Claw!" Jacob yelled. Weavile jumped over one stone, ducked under another, and slashed through several with his Metal Claw, without getting hit by one, before jumping and slashing at Aggron's stomach.

The Steel-Type barely winced at the attack, and commanded the stones to chase Weavile once more. Weavile, after glancing at the approaching stones, sped away from them for a second, before turning to face them. Claws still glowing, Weavile held his ground, slicing through more stones as they passed. Weavile slashed up, down, left, right, and even back to avoid being struck by the stones, until he spotted a space between rocks. Jacob's Pokemon seized the opportunity and quickly jumped through the space.

"Metal Claw, again!"

For the second time, Weavile jumped at Aggron's stomach and slashed, this time doing somewhat more visible damage.

"Keep at it, Weavile!" Jacob shouted. His Pokemon continued to slash at Aggron's stomach, causing it to crouch lower and lower. However, Blue's Pokemon continued to focus on its Stone Edge attack. The stones circled around the field and back toward Weavile.

Again, the Sharp Claw Pokemon jumped away from his opponent, and sped at the stones, slicing through them with Metal Claw once more. For a fourth time, Weavile's speed allowed it to avoid a powerful Stone Edge attack, and the Pokemon turned to Aggron and jumped at its stomach again.

"Iron Tail!" Blue yelled, and, before Weavile made it to the Steel-Type's stomach, Aggron spun and slammed its tail into Weavile, sending Jacob's Pokemon high into the air.

"Weavile!" Jacob shouted. His Pokemon could do nothing as it fell to the ground, but Blue wasn't finished yet.

"Stone Edge!" Aggron roared as he sent the rocks to form a circle around the falling Weavile. Suddenly, they rose and, all at once, shot down on Jacob's Pokemon. The force of the blow sent Weavile into the ground even faster, creating a massive dust cloud.

Jacob stared wordlessly at the cloud as it started to fade. He knew Weavile couldn't last through two powerful attacks, but he had hope for his Pokemon. "Come on," he muttered, while Blue continued to smile.

When the dust cleared, Weavile was lying face down on the ground.

"Weavile is unable to battle, Aggron is the victor. The winner is Blue Oak!"

The small crowd that had formed between the beginning and end of the battle roared in applause. Blue raised his arms high to acknowledge his victory to the audience, while Jacob pulled out a pokeball from his pocket and returned his Weavile. He looked at the pokeball.

"I know you hate pokeballs, but you're probably in no condition to walk. I'll heal you up when we get back to the room, and you'll be out before you know it. You did great, by the way." Jacob then looked at Blue and waited until the former champion looked back. Jacob gave a nod, and turned away to the door.

As he was walking out, he passed Chuck, who stood with his arms crossed, obviously disappointed. "I guess you weren't the trainer I thought you would be," he said, shaking his head.

"Guess not," Jacob said monotonously, without even looking at the large man.

"I'm not done with you, Jacob!" The journalist called after him before he could leave, "I'm sure we will meet again. That time, I know you'll prove your worth!"

Jacob didn't even respond before walking out of the stadium.

* * *

He was only a few hallways from his room when Jacob heard someone call out to him. He turned around to see Raine standing behind him. "That was a great battle. Well, what I saw of it."

Jacob shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets, "I didn't win, but thanks for the compliment."

"Winning isn't important, though," she said. She was still smiling.

"I know, but it still doesn't make you feel great about your skills as a trainer."

"I guess that's true. But you shouldn't feel bad, it was still a good battle to watch!" She seemed truly energetic about what she was saying.

Jacob smiled, "Well, that's always good. Hey," he said, changing the subject, "Where's Shinx?"

Raine chuckled and smiled, "Don't worry. I put him in his pokeball because he was tired of walking."

"Oh okay. That's good because I don't want to run around this ship again." The two shared a laugh. When they stopped, Raine pulled her brown hair out of her face and adjusted it behind her ear, while Jacob sighed. "Well, I should get going. I need to take care of my Pokemon before I do anything else."

Raine nodded, "I understand. I'm glad to know you care for your Pokemon well. You're better than most of the _boys_ I see who think their Pokemon are invincible. So, I'll see you later?" Her smile hadn't changed since they started talking.

Jacob smiled at the "boy" comment and nodded. "I'm sure we will," he said, pulling a hand out of his pocket to wave to his new friend. He turned around to finish the walk to his room when she called out to him again.

"Hey, wait! You dropped something from your pocket!"

Jacob turned around to see her holding up what looked like a red-orange CD case.

She jogged up to him and looked at it, "It's a TM, right? It says Brick Break on it."

"Oh," Jacob said, his eyes widening, "Yeah it is."

Raine opened the case and looked inside, "Well, I doubt you need it since the case is empty. I guess you already used it." Jacob stood without a reply, so Raine continued, "I can throw this out for you."

"Ok," Jacob said, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." She smiled again as she turned around. "Well, I hope to see you soon. Now, go take care of your Pokemon." At that, she walked away, not without a quick glance back, and disappeared around a corner.

Jacob stood for a moment before pulling Weavile's pokeball from his pocket and looking at it for a moment. He placed it onto his belt, spun around and followed the hallway that would lead back to his room.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the Chapter. Feel free to analyze the ending in a review, or just review anyway XD. OC credits: Sable Mirst - Violet Queen of the Underworld. Raine Preston - Frozen Seagull. Also, the blond haired boy Sable sits with after her match is another submitted OC, but I'll credit him later because he had no role in this episode. Next episode hints: They haven't made land yet... No title yet though. Until next time, see ya! **


	6. Episode 5: Meetings and Memories

**_A/N_: Oh, hai there! I don't have very much time here, so I'll be quite quick. In summary to my long, long silence, I only have one thing to say. I'M BACK, AND I'LL BE HERE FOR QUITE A WHILE... I hope. I still love this story, so no worries. I apologise for my three month hiatus, so to make up for it... Here's an episode! I'm going to leave out the review responses in this because I wanted to get this episode posted before I leave. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode... it's a little darker.**

* * *

"Excuse me, sir, but we don't allow Pokemon to sit on the table."

Jacob placed his cup of soda beside a half eaten burger and looked up at his waiter. The tall, skinny red-haired boy was looking at Weavile, who was meditating atop the table, but attracted little attention in the relatively empty restaurant. "Why not?"

"Well," the boy cleared his throat to make himself sound more confident, "we have had problems where a Pokemon that was on a table saw another Pokemon and tried to battle with it in the restaurant. It was not a good night for anybody, and so we do not allow that anymore."

"Interesting," Jacob said. "Well, Weavile isn't going to run off, right Wea-... HEY!" Jacob looked at the table to discover his Pokemon had done exactly what he had said wouldn't happen. Sighing, Jacob turned to the waiter, "Well, he's off the table. Happy?"

The waiter shrugged and walked away, leaving Jacob alone at the table to continue his food in silence. He didn't mind Weavile running off, his Pokemon never was one to stay in one place if he didn't want to. Since the Pokemon always knew where he was and how to get back to where he started, Jacob just let him roam whenever he wanted. Weavile usually didn't find trouble. However, as Jacob finished his food, he discovered the importance of the word "usually."

Jacob left a tip for the waiter and stood, looking around for his Pokemon. Weavile was nowhere within the restaurant, but outside the open double doors a crowd began to form. He ran outside to the deck and found his Pokemon staring down a Growlithe, standing battle ready. Behind the puppy Pokemon stood three men in long white lab coats and blue jeans.

"Growlithe, get this Pokemon out of the way with Fire Fang!" The one in the middle of the three ordered. The prevolved form of Arcanine's teeth turned to flame, and the Fire-Type lunged at Weavile. Jacob's Pokemon jumped out of the way and, ignoring the Pokemon attacking, charged at the three men. The one who ordered his Growlithe jumped to the side and barely dodged Weavile, who then turned and growled at the man, threatening with his claws.

Jacob, who was too surprised at what was happening to move, snapped out his trance and quickly pulled out a pokeball. "Weavile, return!" he nearly screamed, and before the sharp claw Pokemon could get any closer, it disappeared within its ball in a red light. Jacob placed the ball back on his belt and ran to the man. "What the hell happened?"

The man, who had fallen in an attempt to dodge the attacking Weavile, stood and started to dust himself off without even looking at Jacob. "You better train that Pokemon of yours, kid. He just jumped at me for no reason."

"That doesn't sound like Weavile at all," Jacob said. "You didn't do anything to provoke him?"

"Listen kid, I-" the man started, but paused as soon as he finally looked up at Jacob. His eyes widened for a moment, and the man took a step back. "Uh," he stammered, "you know what? Don't worry about it. I must have tripped over your Pokemon without knowing."

"What?" Jacob asked, somewhat surprised at the man's actions.

"Um, sorry. Won't happen again. You and your friend have a nice day." The man returned his Growlithe, and turned around, quickly motioning the other two to follow. Jacob was left utterly confused as to what had just happened.

"My friend?" He asked himself, but his question was soon answered by a familiar voice to his right.

"What was that about?" Jacob looked over to see Raine standing beside him, with her Shinx in her arms.

"I have no idea," Jacob said, then did a double take. "Wait, where did you come from?"

"I saw you return your Weavile. I've been next to you almost the entire time you were talking to that man."

"How did I not see you?" Jacob half exclaimed.

Raine laughed, "I'm from Fuchsia City; Everyone is a ninja there." She then started walking in the opposite direction.

"Huh," Jacob said, and gave one more look to where the men scurried off, before following Raine down the deck.

**The Blackthorn Prodigy**

**Episode 5: Meetings and Memories**

It was early afternoon on the S.S. Sinfonia, and the people aboard were as lively as ever. The ship was due to dock in just a few hours, and nobody on the ship could wait. Though the arrival to the Cherto Region was the first thing on almost everybody's minds, this was not the case for Jacob, who could not get Weavile's outburst out of his mind.

"I don't get it; Weavile _never_ attacks people."

Raine nodded, "Do you think Weavile recognized them?"

"Maybe," Jacob said. "The one he attacked seemed to know me, but I don't remember him."

Again, Raine nodded. "Why don't you try letting him out? Then you'll see if Weavile is attacking anybody or if it was just that person."

"We can try," Jacob said, pulling a Pokeball from his belt. He held it out and a red light emerged from it. When the light hit the ground, it formed the shape of the sharp claw Pokemon. When Weavile materialized from the light, the Pokemon raised its claws and growled. "Weavile!" Jacob snapped, and the Pokemon turned around to face his trainer with a glare. Weavile looked left and right to realize his enemies weren't around. His glare slightly subsided, but he still seemed angry.

Raine's Shinx popped out from behind its trainer's feet and looked at Jacob's Pokemon. "Shii?" It asked, running up to Weavile. The Dark-Type looked down at the young Pokemon and, after a moment, gave a smile and patted it on the head.

"Well, that settles it," Raine said, "It must have been that specific person."

Jacob nodded, but refused to look away from Weavile. "Did you know who that man was, Weavile?" He asked. The Pokemon's claws twitched when it nodded its head. "Was it them?" Jacob asked, much to Raine's confusion. After another nod from his Pokemon, Jacob's fists clenched slightly and he looked up, "Then we might have a big problem."

"What?" Raine asked nervously, picking up Shinx and stroking its ear. "What kind of problem?"

Jacob stared ahead, "I do know them. They were part of a group I ran into in Hoenn. They stole people's Pokemon and experimented on them." He looked at Weavile and shook his head, "They did some really bad things."

"That doesn't sound good," Raine said. "I don't see what it has to do with you, though."

"I-" Jacob started, but was interrupted but someone shouting at them from behind.

"You!" Another familiar female voice said. Jacob and Raine turned around simultaneously to find a black haired girl walking up to them, while a blond boy followed closely behind. Jacob realized immediately that it was the girl he almost got killed by the day before: Sable.

Her eyebrows were furrowed, but she wore a smirk, which only meant one thing; insults were about to fly. Sure enough, when the duo reached them, she said to Jacob, "I never got to find you yesterday to congratulate you on a magnificent loss."

Jacob shook his head, ignoring her comment, "What do you want?"

Sable feigned shock, "What? Can't I just come by to say hi?"

"Seeing as our last conversation wasn't exactly friendly, I doubt it," Jacob said, staring through the girl in front of him.

"Well, fine," she said, whipping her hair behind her head.

"And you are?" Jacob said to the blond, who on closer inspection looked to be several years older than any of them, though just as tall as Jacob. His hair wasn't too short but not too long either, the front of his hair fell just above his hazel eyes. He wore a gray denim vest over a black, long sleeved shirt. His vest matched the color of his gray jeans, which lead to a pair of black sneakers.

He held out his hand, despite a nasty look from Sable, and introduced himself. "The name's Lexan," he said. His voice was low and calm, but seemed to have some darker emotion behind it.

"Jacob," he said, accepting the man's hand.

"I'm Raine," Raine said, still stroking Shinx's ear. Lexan nodded in her direction

"Where did you meet this," Jacob said, pausing to glance at Sable, "charming person?"

Lexan looked at Sable and back, "Yesterday, actually. A little before I saw you battle. She had a win streak in the stadium, so I challenged her and she won again. I figured a strong trainer like her would be interesting to be around."

"Yeah, yeah, very exciting. Listen," Sable interrupted before extending her arm to point at Jacob, with her wrist above her hand as if to show off a non-existent ring. She wore the same smirk she had arrived with as she said, "I challenge you to a Pokemon Battle."

Jacob gave her a look of confusion, "Seriously?"

"Actually," Lexan cut in before Sable could respond, "we both do."

Looking from one to the other, Jacob asked, "Why?"

"What does it matter?" Sable quickly responded, "Do you want to battle or not?"

When the slight confusion subsided, Jacob smiled, "How about a double battle? It'll save us time and I can battle you both."

Sable scowled, "What, you think I need someone to battle with me? I am perfectly capable of winning on my own!"

Once again cutting her off, Lexan said, "Sure. That should be fun, Jacob." He smiled despite the look of death given to him from Sable.

"Whatever," she said, grunting in disapproval.

"So, it's set then?" Jacob asked his challengers. Lexan nodded, and Sable simply glared.

"Wait," Raine spoke up, earning attention from the other three. She looked at Jacob, "So you are going to battle those two at the same time? That doesn't sound fair."

Jacob chuckled, "Don't worry, it's a double battle. It's very popular in Hoenn. People there almost always team up against you."

"It still doesn't seem fair," She said.

"Oh well," Sable shrugged and turned around to lead the others to the stadium on the other end of the ship. Lexan motioned Jacob to follow before turning himself.

When the other two were out of earshot, Jacob turned to Raine and spoke quietly, "Don't worry about those guys from before. Maybe they aren't here to start any trouble."

Raine placed Shinx on the floor to play with Weavile, "I hope not." The two followed Sable and Lexan with their Pokemon beside them, as Jacob pondered the sheer unlikelihood of what he had just told Raine.

* * *

Despite the excitement from the soon-to-be arrival to the Cherto Region, trainers still accepted challenges, and nobody ever wanted to miss a good battle. It was for these reasons that Jacob and Raine found themselves staring at a packed stadium the moment they walked through the double doors. The place was nearly full as the crowd roared and cheered and stood in the excitement of the battle in progress.

Jacob and Raine stood at the entrance, waiting for Sable and Lexan to finish speaking to the referee and find out when they could battle. "How strong do you think they are?" Raine asked.

Shrugging, Jacob looked at Raine, "I don't know about Lexan, but I know Sable has a really strong Farfetch'd. I watched her battle yesterday and it beat a rock type, so that must mean something. I don't know anything about her other Pokemon, or if she has any. I guess we'll see."

Raine nodded as the two stared at the Pokemon battle in the center of the stadium. Jacob recognized the two Pokemon battling as two native to Hoenn. Raine, however, had never been to Hoenn and was clearly at a loss, so Jacob decided to help her out. "The white one is a Zangoose and the black one is a Seviper. Those two Pokemon have always hated each other, and nobody knows why." Jacob chuckled, "They caused Weavile and me all sorts of trouble one time in Hoenn, though he was still a Sneasel at the time."

The Zangoose lunged forward at its mortal enemy, with claws that glowed and seemed to spark with energy; a move Jacob recognized as Crush Claw. The Fang Snake Pokemon slithered around the attack, and coiled itself around Zangoose. When it had circled three times, Seviper squeezed its opponent, while visciously biting the Cat Ferret Pokemon in the shoulder with a sickening Posion Fang. As Zangoose struggled to break free of the snake's incredible grip, Seviper only squeezed tighter and bit harder into its opponent.

When Zangoose stopped struggling, Seviper let go and slowly uncoiled itself, before slithering back to the side of its trainer. Zangoose was still standing, but it was definitely weaker. Its trainer ordered another Crush Claw, which Seviper easily dodged by ducking under, and retaliated with a Poison Tail to Zangoose's stomach. The Pokemon was sent back several feet, and landed on its back.

"Wow," Raine said, as she watched Zangoose stand up and hold its claws out, ready for more. "I'm surprised that Pokemon hasn't been poisoned yet."

"Most Zangoose are actually immune to poisoning, because their bodies have adapted to it after fighting with Seviper for such a long time." Jacob smiled as the battle continued in front of them. Zangoose, who apparently knew Poison Jab, began having a back-and-forth block-and-counter session with Seviper's Poison Tail. Zangoose would slice forward, while Seviper deflected it with its tail and returned with its own powerful attack, which was promptly blocked by Zangoose.

Seviper sliced downward upon Zangoose, but the Cat Ferret Pokemon sidestepped to dodge the attack. Then it quickly reached out and grabbed Seviper's tail, spun the Pokemon several times, and threw it across the battlefield, before quickly jumping at the snake with another Crush Claw. However, to the surprise of the crowd, Seviper prevented the attack with a powerful Flamethrower, which landed square in Zangoose's chest. Almost instantly, Seviper slithered to where Zangoose landed, and slammed one last Poison Tail downward.

However, Zangoose disappeared in a red light as its trainer withdrew the Pokemon, right at Poison Tail hit the ground. Zangoose's trainer raised his hand and announced his forfeit, which led to several chants of disapproval from the crowd. The trainer with the Seviper shrugged, withdrew his Pokemon, and waved to the audience, before both departed to the stands.

"Forfeiting was a good idea," Jacob said, without taking his eyes off the battlefield.

"Why?" Raine asked.

"Seviper and Zangoose hate each other. Sometimes they will force themselves out of their own Pokeballs to continue a battle. By forfeiting, that trainer kept his Zangoose from getting too determined." Jacob continued to stare into the battlefield when he saw Sable and Lexan speaking to the referee again, who seemed to be a much older man that the person from the previous day.

"I never thought two Pokemon could be like that," Raine trailed off. She looked down at Shinx, who had been weaving around her feet through the duration of the battle.

"Nobody even knows what started it, either," Jacob said. He then noticed Lexan turning around and waving for him to come; they were next to battle. "It looks like we're next," He said, looking to Weavile beside him. Jacob turned to Raine and smiled, "Wish us luck."

"Good luck," she said with a smile, as she picked up her Shinx. Jacob nodded and jogged to the battlefield.

Sable and Lexan were already waiting on the opposite end, ready to battle. The crowd cheered as they recognized the trainer who had endured an exciting battle with Blue the day before. Jacob took a quick look around the stadium, which was nearly full with the exception of several back rows, and then focused on the task at hand. He took his place on his own side of the field, as the referee walked over to him. "The trainers over there said you have agreed to a two-on-two double battle, where you have no partner. Is this correct?"

Jacob nodded, but a voice came from behind him to say otherwise.

"No, that isn't correct. I'm his battle partner." Jacob quickly turned to see Raine behind him again, with a determined smile on her face. He recognized the look from Clair many times before, and knew there was no changing her mind.

"Oh, good. Then let's get this battle going," the referee said, and walked back to his place on the side of the field. Raine stepped beside Jacob, as Shinx took its place beside its trainer.

"You really want to battle?" Jacob asked, confused.

Raine responded by reaching into her jacket, and pulling out a gray headband from one of the inside pockets. It was a darker shade of gray, but it had white Duskull mask prints on it. She parted her hair and placed the headband on the top of her head, forcing all of her long dark brown hair to flow back. "'I'm perfectly capable' of battling," Raine said, mocking what Sable had said earlier on the ship.

"Alright," Jacob said, before turning to the battlefield, where Sable and Lexan were pulling out their pokeballs.

"Raticate, go!" Sable shouted, and threw her pokeball. The Pokemon that emerged looked like a mix between a guinea pig and an oversized rat. It was brown on its back and sides, and a lighter shade on its belly. It stood on its webbed hind legs, while it flexed its small forelimbs. The most prominent feature on Raticate was its incredibly large fangs, which it showed off at all times.

"Weavile, you're up!" Jacob said to his signature Pokemon. Weavile nodded and ran to the field.

Raine looked down at her Shinx, "Shinx, I want you to sit here and watch this battle, okay? You're going to be doing the same thing soon."

Jacob shot a surprised look at her, "You're not using Shinx?"

Raine chuckled, "He's only a month old without any battle experience. I'm not sending him against good trainers. Besides, don't think you're the only one who's been on adventures before this. Go, Houndoom!" She shouted and threw her pokeball.

The Pokemon, Jacob recognized as one native to Johto, looked much like a large dog. It was mostly black, with an orange belly and snout. It had long, rounded silver horns on its head, as well as two silver bands around each ankle. It also had three similar bands on its back, and one around its neck like a collar, that led to a skull-like pendant on its chest. Its long, skinny tail led to the shape an arrowhead at the tip. When it emerged from the pokeball, it howled and flared smoke out its nostrils.

Lexan threw his Pokeball and revealed a Pokemon that nearly everyone in the stadium was unfamilar with. It had the body shape of a horse, and was black with white, zig-zag stripes on it. It had many white spikes along its backbone, that led to a tail with four points at the end. These spikes occasionally flashed yellow with electricity.

Lexan took a moment to explain, "If you don't know, I come from the Unova region. It is a faraway region with many Pokemon that the rest of the world hasn't seen. This is my Zebstrika, one of my favorite Pokemon."

Jacob nodded, but said nothing. Lexan took this as a sign of preparedness, and looked at the referee.

"Are all trainers ready?" the referee called out. All four nodded, and the man held up his two flags. "Then, let the battle begin!"

Without hesitating, Lexan yelled, "Zebstrika, Thunderbolt!"

The Thunderbolt Pokemon's spikes glowed yellow, and the Pokemon sent a cackling beam of electricity toward Raine's Houndoom.

"Flamethrower!" Raine called out, and her Pokemon launched a fiery breath at the attack. The two beams collided nearer Jacob's side of the field and exploded, sending smoke everywhere and shrouding Jacob's Pokemon.

"Weavile, use Ice Punch on that Zebstrika!" Jacob ordered. From the smoke cloud, Weavile seemed to fly out, and took aim at Lexan's Pokemon.

"Agility!" Lexan called out, and Zebstrika jumped out of the way of Weavile's attack with a boost of speed.

"Night Slash," Jacob said. Weavile disappeared in a blur of speed, and slashed at the Thunderbolt Pokemon's side. Zebstrika recoiled in pain, but was otherwise unphased.

"Again!" Jacob yelled.

"Not so fast! "Sable shouted, "Raticate, use Hyper Fang!"

Raticate jumped at Weavile, who was in mid-slash, and caught the Sharp Claw's Pokemon by its arm, spun around, and threw Weavile to the floor. Raticate had just landed beside Jacob's Pokemon when Houndoom sped over to the group.

"Crunch!" Raine called out. The Dark Pokemon's sharp teeth emitted a dark aura, and Houndoom chomped down on Raticate. Sable's Pokemon let out a shriek of pain, and Houndoom threw the Pokemon into the air.

"Weavile, use Metal Claw on Raticate!" Jacob commanded. Weavile looked up and jumped, slashing the Pokemon in the side with glowing claws, and sending it higher into the air.

"Zebstrika, Discharge!"

The Thunderbolt Pokemon's mane sparked furiously, and Zebstrika's entire body shone with electricity. Suddenly, Lexan's Pokemon seemed to explode, sending electricity in all directions. The attack blasted Weavile, Houndoom and even Raticate away from the Zebra.

Weavile back-flipped, and landed on his feet, but Houndoom fell and slid on her side. Raine's Pokemon quickly got back on its feet. Raticate, having withstood three attacks, landed flat on its back, and had difficulties getting back up.

Sable glared at Lexan for a moment, and returned her focus to the field. "Raticate, let's show them they can't just beat you up. Use Flame Wheel on that annoying Weavile!"

Jacob raised an eyebrow, "Did you just say-," His question was cut off when Raticate's body was engulfed in fire as it charged at his Pokemon. "Dodge, quick!" Jacob shouted, and Weavile jumped to the side. However, their reactions weren't fast enough, and the Sharp Claw Pokemon was grazed by the Fire-Type attack.

Weavile was knocked to the ground, despite the fact that the attack was a slight hit. Jacob's Pokemon jumped on its feet as Raticate prepared another fiery tackle.

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower on Raticate!" Raine called out. Her Pokemon sent a stream of fire at the charging Raticate, but the beam was intercepted by a bolt of electricity from Zebstrika. Raine and Lexan glared at each other for a moment, before they both called out an order.

"Flamethrower, again!"

"Zebstrika, Flame Charge!"

Houndoom sent another Flamethrower attack at the Thunderbolt Pokemon, who engulfed itself in flames and sped through the fire, seemingly unphased. Though Houndoom's attack was powerful, Zebstrika appeared to move faster and faster through the attack, until it was very close to its opponent.

"Jump!" Raine called out. Her Pokemon launched itself into the air, narrowly avoiding Zebstrika's attack below. "Now, Dark Pulse!"

Still in the air, Houndoom opened its mouth, and unleashed a powerful aura of dark energy at Lexan's Pokemon. Zebstrika took the full force of the attack, but stood its ground with much effort. Before Houndoom could land nearly on top of it, Zebstrika galloped away, and turned around again to face the Dark Pokemon. However, Raine had shifted her focus.

Meanwhile, Weavile was unsuccessfully trying to break through Raticate's Flame Wheel attacks. Being an Ice-Type, Weavile couldn't attack without getting hurt himself. It didn't help when Sable ordered her Raticate to encircle Jacob's Pokemon, leaving Weavile trapped in a circle of fire.

"Good," Sable said, "We have them where we want them, Raticate. Now, attack!"

From within the flames, Raticate emerged and jumped at Weavile, who had nowhere to go. Suddenly, Houndoom smashed its head into the approaching mouse Pokemon with a powerful Flare Blitz. Jacob shot a quick glance at Raine, and nodded, mouthing "thanks," before looking back at the battle. Raticate picked itself back up and ran over to its original side, beside Zebstrika.

Lexan chuckled, "I knew this would be a good battle, but it's time to stop holding back."

Jacob smiled at this comment, "That's what they all say. Come on then!"

"Shut up!" Sable yelled, excited for more action. "Raticate, Quick Attack!"

"Right," Lexan said. "Wild Charge, Zebstrika!"

The two Pokemon sped at their opponents, Raticate to Weavile and Zebstrika to Houndoom, at the same speed. Zebstrika was cackling with electricity, similar to a Volt Tackle attack, but it didn't look to have the same amount of energy.

"Houndoom, counter with Flare Blitz!"

"Metal Claw, Weavile!"

The two Dark Type Pokemon charged, Houndoom blazing in blue flames and Weavile's claws metallicly glowing, at the other two. Raticate jumped, and Weavile did the same, while Zebstrika and Houndoom continued in their collision course.

"Super Fang!" Sable shouted as soon as Raticate was close enough. Her Pokemon's fangs shone white and doubled in size, and the Pokemon spun, avoiding Weavile's attack, and pierced the Sharp Claw Pokemon in his side. Raticate then threw Weavile to the ground, cutting Jacob's Pokemon's health in half, and landed next to the Dark-Type.

Weavile stood weakly, and Jacob knew his Pokemon probably wouldn't withstand another strong attack. Sable obviously figured this out as well, and she pointed at Weavile and shouted, "Finish him off with Flame Wheel!"

Zebstrika and Houndoom collided, and the two attacks exploded. The two Pokemon were launched back once more, and they both landed on their sides, fatigued from the collision. The two determined Pokemon stood back up and launched simultaneous Thunderbolt and Flamethrower attacks at each other.

Raticate engulfed itself in flames once more, as Zebstrika and Houndoom's attacks drew nearer, and charged at Weavile. To Sable's surprise, Jacob called out a new attack, "Weavile, Brick Break!" Weavile's right hand became surrounded in yellow-orange sparks, and the Sharp-Claw Pokemon spun and smashed its arm into Raticate's face. The flames on Sable's Pokemon dissipated immediately, and Raticate was sent directly backwards, towards Lexan's Zebstrika.

Sable's Pokemon slammed into the Thunderbolt Pokemon, cutting off it's attack and sending them both into the ground. Houndoom's Flamethrower overtook the underpowered electric attack, and blasted its way to the two downed Pokemon, and exploded on impact. Raine cheered at the successful attack, but Jacob wanted to be certain, as the dust obscured the view as always.

The crowd was silent as the dust began to settle, when, suddenly, a red light shone from within. Raticate emerged from the cloud, blazing with another Flame Wheel and ready for one last blow. Before Jacob could say something, Raine called out, "Houndoom, one more Flare Blitz should do it!"

Houndoom charged towards Raticate, and ignited itself in a blue flame. The two Pokemon ran at each other as the crowd cheered vigorously for whichever Pokemon they wanted to come out on top. When the two were mere feet away, Sable yelled, "Now!"

Raticate, instead of attacking Houndoom, jumped up and landed on the Pokemon's back, absorbing the fire from Flare Blitz into its own Flame Wheel. Raticate jumped again, even higher this time, and set its sights on Weavile.

"Weavile," Jacob said, unphased, "finish this with Brick Break." Weavile jumped with sparking claws, and intercepted Raticate at the peak of its jump. Before Raticate could even descend, Weavile brought down both claws on its opponent's head, and the Pokemon sped into the ground, knocking it out.

The crowd exploded when they realized that Zebstrika had already been defeated in the explosion, and that the battle had finally finished. The referee pointed a flag to Jacob and Raine's side, "Raticate and Zebstrika are unable to battle, Weavile and Houndoom are the winners!"

Raine jumped and cheered before running up to her Pokemon and hugging it, congratulating it on a job well done, while Shinx ran around them in excitement.

Jacob smiled and knelt down to Weavile, who was too exhausted to celebrate, and pulled a Sitrus berry from his pocket and gave it to his Pokemon. Within moments, Weavile was feeling more active and less fatigued. The two walked over to Raine and Houndoom, but her Pokemon growled at them. Raine pet Houndoom's head and looked at Jacob, "Sorry, she isn't very trusting of new people."

Jacob nodded and turned around to find Sable picking up her Raticate into her arms, petting it behind its ear. She then returned her Pokemon and turned around to face Jacob. They locked eyes for a moment, but, before they could say anything, they heard someone scream from outside the stadium.

"Somebody help! They stole my Pokemon!"

Despite the volume of the crowd, those words always seem to pierce through any sound to a Pokemon trainer. Every head turned toward the door, but nobody moved. Jacob looked around, to see if anyone would do something, and noticed that Lexan had been missing since the battle ended. Jacob nodded at Weavile, and the two bolted out the door without looking back.

Jacob arrived in the hallway outside the stadium to find a young girl on her knees, crying. He could tell instantly that she was the one who screamed. "Who took your Pokemon?" he asked her.

The girl tried to answer between sobs, "Th-there were f-four of them." She paused to try to take a breath, "th-three of them had white coats, and they were t-trying to get my Ditto. Then this man came by and p-pushed me down. He took my Ditto, my p-poor Ditto!" The girl started crying again

Jacob clenched his fists, and asked one more question. "Which way did they go?" Jacob took off the moment the girl pointed, with Weavile just as determined as he was to find these people, and they ran down the path to the deck of the ship.

* * *

It was much brighter outside than Jacob had anticipated, but that was the last thing on his mind when he ran onto the deck. He had no idea where the thieves had run off, and nobody on board seemed to know what was going on. He spun around several times with no luck or clues, when a voice called out to him.

"Jacob! They went this way!"

Jacob turned to his left and saw Lexan standing at a corner, motioning for him to follow. The two, along with Weavile, ran off in the direction Lexan pointed out.

"Where did you go?" Jacob asked, though it sounded more like an interrogation.

Lexan looked at Jacob as the two ran down the deck, with the glimmering ocean to their left. "I left as soon as the battle ended to take care of my Zebstrika, when I saw the girl get her Pokemon stolen. I chased after them but I lost them when I got up here. I just saw them on the other end of the deck when you showed up."

Jacob nodded and continued running. His Weavile shared its trainer's look of determination, and Lexan saw it on both of them.

"What does it matter to you?" Lexan started. "They're just a trio of thieves."

"They're more than that," Jacob said. "I've met them before in Hoenn. They were some-" He stopped running and stared at Lexan.

"What are you doing? Aren't we going to stop them?" he questioned.

Jacob continued to look at Lexan with confusion. "You said 'trio.'"

Lexan shook his head, "Yeah? That means three. And those three are getting away!"

Shaking his head, Jacob responded, "There aren't three. There's four." There was a defeaning silence between the two, before Jacob continued. "If you saw them, you would have known."

Lexan said nothing, but instead continued to stare at Jacob. Suddenly, Lexan turned and ran further down the ship. Jacob instantly ran after him, and was slowly starting to catch up. Lexan disappeared behind a corner, and Jacob turned just as fast, only to find himself meeting a fist with his face. He fell backwards, and landed on the floor nearly headfirst.

When he regained consciousness, only a minute later, he saw Weavile pinned to the floor by a large bird Pokemon. Its underside was a deep navy blue, while its back and the back side of its wings were dark red. It had a white, feathery head, and a red, three pointed crest just above its yellow beak. From this crest, white plumes formed a sort of crown on the bird Pokemon's head.

Sitting on this Pokemon's back was Lexan, who was tossing a pokeball up and down in his right hand. "You know, I had expected the person who single-handedly took down our operation in Hoenn to be a little older. That's why I had to see for myself when one of my men told me earlier today that he ran into you.."

Jacob slowly stood up, but was wary to make an action because of Lexan's Pokemon's grip on Weavile. "So you were in Hoenn too?"

"Me?" Lexan mockingly asked. "No, only one of the other three were. He was the one who recognized you from when you destroyed their base and stole their work."

"They stole my Pokemon," Jacob said, looking down at Weavile. The Sharp Claw Pokemon was growling, but couldn't move due to the bird Pokemon's weight. "Besides, their 'work' wasn't right. I wasn't going to leave her there."

"Nevertheless," Lexan cut in, "my boss was none too pleased. The Hoenn commander is no longer in the picture. That being the case, allow me to introduce myself correctly. I am Lexan Dera, one of the commanders of The Project."

"The Project?" Jacob repeated.

Lexan laughed, "There's no need to tell you any more. The Hoenn group was weak; we are the real deal. You can't even dream of stopping us." Jacob nearly growled, but Lexan continued. "You can't even stop me from taking this Ditto." He looked at the pokeball he was juggling in one hand.

"What do you want a Ditto for? Why can't you just catch one?" Jacob shouted.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Lexan laughed as his Pokemon expanded its wings. "If I told you, you'd better be joining us. And that's an offer."

"Never," Jacob said.

Lexan shrugged, and his Pokemon pumped its wings, "Very well. I hope your Weavile likes swimming. Braviary, let's go!" The Valiant Pokemon, clutching a struggling Weavile's arms in its talons, took off and left the boat, carrying the commander over the ocean, and then up into the sky. After what felt like minutes of ascending, Lexan's Pokemon leveled itself out with the ocean, and promptly dropped Weavile.

Jacob immediately ran to the rail of the ship and pulled out a pokeball. "Flygon, let's go!" he shouted, and called out his green dragon. It let out a cheer upon being released, and Jacob quickly jumped off the railing and onto his Dragon Type's back. The Mystic Pokemon sped off after Weavile, who was falling fast towards the ocean.

Luckily, Braviary had flown much higher than it did farther from the ship, so it didn't take long to get below Weavile's fall. When they were in the right spot, Jacob looked up and waited to catch his Pokemon, who approached faster and faster with every second. Jacob held his arms out when Weavile was barely ten feet away, when, suddenly, a sharp gust of wind blew Flygon and its trainer several feet to the side, and Weavile fell past them.

Jacob quickly looked over and saw Lexan and his Pokemon, who had sent a Whirlwind attack at the two and were flying away to escape. "Dive, Flygon!" He shouted, and his dragon ducked its head down, and nose-dived after Weavile. However, Weavile was falling too fast, and landed in the water with a large splash.

Flygon expanded its wings and hovered over the surface of the water as the two scanned the area for Jacob's Pokemon. "Weavile... please," Jacob muttered. He knew his Pokemon could swim, but not for very long. If it came to be a minute, Jacob knew he would jump in. Flygon made a noise and suddenly flew forward, which brought Jacob's attention to a splash his Pokemon had seen.

Jacob cheered when Weavile emerged from the dark blue ocean, unharmed and treading water. He pulled another pokeball from his belt and held it out, returning Weavile to its pokeball in a red flash. "I'm happy you're safe," he said to the pokeball, before putting it back on his belt. "Now, Flygon, do you think you can catch up to Lexan?" To respond, Flygon cheered and pumped its wings, speeding off after the commander.

Lexan's Braviary was fast, but Flygon was faster, so catching up to the trainer wasn't an impossible feat. Jacob was so determined to catch Lexan, that he didn't even look at the ship when he passed it, despite the fact that there was a crowd forming around the front deck, where the three scientists were trying to defend themselves.

It took a minute for Flygon to get within attacking distance, and, when they were, Jacob didn't hesitate. "Flygon, use Dragonbreath!"

Flygon sent a beam of blue fire from its mouth at the Valiant Pokemon, but Lexan saw the approaching attack and had his Pokemon dive a few feet to dodge. Flygon fired off several more attacks, but to no avail.

"Speed up Flygon," Jacob ordered. Flygon pumped its wings harder, and decreased the distance between the two Pokemon even more. Jacob would have commanded another attack, if something didn't catch his eye. Far in the distance, a black helicopter was approaching. The fact that Lexan didn't change course only proved to Jacob that this helicopter was not a good thing. "We need to stop them now! Another Dragonbreath!"

Flygon sent attack after attack, but Lexan's Braviary was too agile, and continued to dodge. Despite this, Flygon still had speed on its side, and was soon nearly above the other Pokemon.

"Flygon," Jacob said, "stay close." When he and his Pokemon were directly above their opponents, Jacob jumped off of Flygon's back and tackled Lexan several hundred feet in the air. The surprise tackle knocked Lexan off of his Pokemon and the two fell toward the ocean.

Both of their Pokemon immediately dove after them, ignoring each other, in an attempt to save their trainers. Meanwhile, Jacob was struggling to take the stolen Pokeball from Lexan. They both had their hands on it, but neither showed signs of letting go. Jacob pulled harder, which only led to Lexan pulling just as hard. Jacob then kicked Lexan in the stomach, which loosened his grip enough for Jacob to tug the pokeball away and make a small distance between him and Lexan.

It was at that moment that Braviary caught its trainer, and Lexan climbed onto the Valiant Pokemon's back. Flygon was taking a little longer to catch up to Jacob, due to being at a much higher altitude when Jacob had jumped. Jacob looked down and saw the ocean rushing up to him, though he could hear the wingbeats of his dragon getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, Braviary came from out of nowhere, and slammed into Flygon's side with a powerful Brave Bird attack. Jacob heard the strong impact of the attack and managed to turn around in mid-air to see what had happened. The helicopter was already overhead, and Jacob could make out Lexan standing on the side, holding on to the rope. He had sent Braviary back to stop Flygon.

The attack was strong enough to knock Flygon off course, and throw the Pokemon off balance so it, too, began falling nearly alongside its trainer. Jacob knew there was little chance of Flygon regaining its balance in time to avoid the water, so he instead pulled out a pokeball, returned his dragon, and braced himself for impact.

The water hurt. It felt as if Jacob had been tied to a wall, and then blasted by several simultaneous Hydro Cannons by many angry Blastoise. The extreme pain was all that was running through Jacob's mind as he plunged through the surface of the ocean, and then deeper. His descent started to slow as his momentum decreased, then Jacob uncurled from his cannonball position and opened his eyes to see how deep he had gone.

His heart sank when he realized that it was unlikely that he would have enough air to reach the surface in time. This didn't stop him from trying to swim upward with as much speed as possible. Jacob knew none of his Pokemon could help him get there faster; he was on his own. He wasn't even halfway to the surface when he felt his stomach seem to collapse from lack of oxygen. His arms grew weak, and everything looked darker.

Jacob felt something push his feet upward. He could barely move from oxygen deprivation, but he could definitely tell that the surface was approaching faster and faster, and he was being pushed by something below him. He looked back up in time to witness himself break through the surface and take in the largest breath of his life. Then he took another one.

When Jacob could breathe regularly, he looked down to meet his savior: a Kindra. It was light blue, with a yellow, scaled underbelly. It had fins on its back that looked like wings, and two antennae on its head, along with a long, smooth snout. Its tail curled into a tight coil, which it used with its wings to swim on the surface, with Jacob on its back.

"Thanks," Jacob muttered to the Pokemon, before looking up. The helicopter was far away, with no hope of catching up to it. He then looked at the ship, and saw hundreds of people gathered along the side, cheering at the fact that Jacob was alive. He sighed, with Flygon's pokeball in one hand and the girl's Ditto's pokeball in the other. He placed them both in his pocket and wrapped his arms around Kingdra's neck as it carried him back to the ship.

* * *

When the Kingdra arrived alongside the S.S. Sinfonia, several crew members had lowered one of the escape boats for him. There were two more crew members on the boat, as well as Raine. Kingdra stopped swimming beside the escape boat, and the sailors helped Jacob aboard. Raine handed him several towels and smiled.

"Thanks," Jacob smiled back and wrapped himself up.

"You're welcome," Raine said, and pulled out a pokeball. To Jacob's shock, Raine held it out and returned the Kingdra.

Jacob laughed in amazement, "You keep surprising me today, Raine."

She shrugged as the sailors on the ship started pulling the escape boat back up. It took less than a minute for them to secure the boat to the side of the ship, and Jacob and Raine stepped back onto deck.

Still soaking, Jacob reached for his belt and pulled out his third Pokemon of the day. "Typhlosion, a little help please?" He asked, as the Volcano Pokemon emerged from the Pokeball. Noticing his master soaking wet, Typhlosion ignited the flame on its back, which warmed the immedate area around the Pokemon. Jacob held his arms out, and allowed the heat to evaporate the water from his clothes and hair.

When he felt comfortable again, Jacob signaled for Typhlosion to stop, thanked him, and returned the Pokemon. He then turned to Raine and asked, "What happened to the other three?"

Raine motioned for him to follow, and said, "They apparently were waiting for the helicopter that picked up Lexan. They had four Pokemon out, but then Blue showed up and took them all on. Some security officers have them in handcuffs there now."

"Good," Jacob said, as the two arrived at the front deck. There was still a crowd of people, all of them talking about the excitement that had just happened. Jacob and Raine fought their way to the very end of the deck, where they found Blue, several security officers, the three handcuffed scientists, the little girl and, to Jacob's dismay, Chuck Kingsman.

Before he could say anything to anyone, the little girl ran up to him with a smile on her face, as if she simply knew he had what she was looking for. Jacob smiled and held out his hand, revealing the pokeball he had worked so hard to retrieve. "I believe this Pokemon belongs to you?"

"Yes!" The girl nearly screamed in happiness, jumped up and down several times, and took the pokeball. She opened it and called out her Ditto, a pink mass of what looked like jello, with dots for eyes and a line for a smile. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you," she repeated over and over again as she and her Pokemon joined in a warm embrace.

"Don't mention it. There's no worse feeling than having your Pokemon taken from you, I had to help," Jacob said, half smiling. He then looked up and shifted his attention to the rest of the people. He walked over to the three men in handcuffs, and stared at the one who recognized him. "So," Jacob said, "I hear you were in Hoenn with me."

The man didn't say anything, but stared at Jacob in fear.

"You should feel lucky that my Weavile is in his pokeball. Otherwise, you would be in a lot of pain right now." Jacob didn't bother asking any questions. He knew he would find out in due time anyway. Instead, he turned and walked away, hoping nobody would say anything.

Unfortunately for Jacob, life rarely went as he hoped. Chuck's voice boomed before Jacob could even make it back to the crowd. "Hey, champ!"

Jacob turned back and saw that Blue was standing beside Chuck. "What?" Jacob asked dryly.

Chuck held out his hand, "I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done." He looked sincere enough to Jacob.

He shook the man's hand, "Thanks."

"Yeah, that was quite the interesting double battle," Chuck said.

Jacob rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away. He figured the large man would ruin the moment somehow.

"How long has your Weavile known Brick Break? I don't remember him using that move at all yesterday," Chuck accused. Jacob shook his head, but it was Blue who responded.

"Come on, Chuck, give him a break. He just went through a lot and almost died." Blue held out his hand to shake Jacob's as well. When Jacob took it, Blue continued, "I mean, sure, he did let ONE person get away when I was able to stop three at the same time."

Jacob grunted and walked back to Raine, angry. He didn't want to deal with them, and somebody else could tell.

"Hey, you two!" Sable yelled, but this time not to Jacob and Raine. Chuck and Blue looked over to the girl, who had appeared from the crowd. She stormed up to the two men, who were considerably taller than her, and glared. "You have no right to talk about him like that! You," she looked at Chuck, "You're accusing him of throwing a battle that I'm sure you would have done much less in? Very smart. I'd like to see you go against anyone on this ship, much less Jacob."

Jacob and Raine walked over to several feet behind Sable as she continued.

"And you," she thrust a finger at Blue's chest, "You're gloating about beating three trainers at once, but YOU didn't just risk your life to save some stranger's Pokemon, did you? Sure, he let the guy get away, but he saved the lives of his own Pokemon and that little girl's. What can you say you did today?"

Blue and Chuck as well as Jacob and Raine stood speechless at Sable's outburst. The black haired girl turned around to face Jacob and blew several strands of hair from her face. All Jacob could do was raise an eyebrow and look confused.

"Listen," Sable started, "Don't go thinking we can be friends and all. I only defended you because I respect what you did back there."

Jacob nodded. "Thank you," he said, smiling. Sable responded with a grunt, and she walked away. He swore he could see a very slight smile on her face before she did so, though. Looking back, he watched Chuck and Blue walk away, still seemingly stunned by what had happened to them.

"I hope that keeps them quiet for a while," Jacob said, chuckling. Raine, however, stopped paying attention when she realized that everyone on the ship had gone quiet. Jacob looked around and saw that everyone was looking the same direction: the front of the ship.

They all were looking at the same thing. For the first time since the ship departed the day prior, the horizon showed something other than water. The entire ship was experiencing its first glimpse of the Cherto Region.

It was too far to see with any detail, but that didn't stop the entire crowd from cheering in excitement. Everyone aboard the ship seemed to forget, though momentarily for some, about everything that had happened just several minutes prior. They all celebrated that the Cherto Region was within reach.

"So, what do you think is going to happen with that guy who got away?" Raine asked, bringing the topic back to more serious matters. Jacob, however, was feeling the energy nearly everyone else on the ship felt.

"I'm sure we will see them again, he said they have a plan. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." He then smiled again, and looked out to the horizon once more. "Come on, let's go get our stuff ready. We should be making land in less than an hour."

Raine nodded with her reassuring smile, and the two walked back to the inner sections of the ship, as well as many others on the deck, to prepare to make port.

* * *

The room was dark and empty, save for three closed windows with the curtains drawn, and a desk with a large computer moniter sitting atop it. The door to the room opened, and Lexan walked in, closing and locking the door behind him. He took a seat at the desk, sighed, and turned on the moniter .

The screen was black, save for a single, blue window in the center that read "Waiting for contact... Waiting for contact..." Lexan checked his watch, and drummed on the desk for a minute. His Helicopter had only just landed at the base, and all he wanted to do was sleep from exhaustion. However, he had a job to do, and his boss was about to appear on the screen.

Eventually, the blue window read "connecting... connecting..." and then the screen changed to a video of a silhouetted figure. The person on the screen spoke, with a digitally manipulated voice to hide the person's true identity.

"Lexan, I'm glad to see you're still in one piece. Was the mission a success?"

Lexan smiled, "There were a few set-backs, and many more heroes aboard that ship, but the end result is the same. We have the DNA of the Transform Pokemon, Ditto, and the law finally knows of our existence."

"Excellent," the voice said. "The plan is going perfectly, then. When more people are aware of us and our intentions, then we will make our move."

Nodding, Lexan had one more point to bring up. "The kid from Hoenn is here. He was on the boat, and he almost stopped us. If we actually needed that Ditto instead of just a DNA sample, he would have."

"Interesting," the figure said.

"What do you suggest we do?"

Lexan's boss paused for a few moments, before finally speaking. "We do nothing. We do not need extra work at this stage of our Project. If the boy appears again, then I will deal with him myself."

At that, the boss closed the connection, ending their conversation. Lexan sat in silence for a minute, and finally stood with a smirk. He pushed the seat under the desk, and walked out the door, leaving the dark room empty once more.

* * *

**_AN_: So, did I pass the test? Please review with compliments, concerns and advice and all that stuff. No new OCs were added in this episode, so look at Episode 4 for the already existing OCs. Yes, Lexan was my own character, as he is pivotal to the story of the series. Anyway, I'll be starting on the next episode soon, so see you all within a few weeks! Ciao.**


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